Kansas City Royals.

Date of birth: July 10, 1945 Avon Park, FL 

High School:  E. O. Douglas HS (Sebring, FL)

College: Florida A&M University

First Impression; I have an affinity for this one, I always liked it because he looked happy.

Career stats player: Hal played 15 years with the Royals after coming over from Cincinnati with Wayne Simpson for Roger Nelson and Richie Scheinblum in 1973. Hal was a 3 time All-Star and World Series Champ. Wayne Simpson pitched 59.2 inings for KC. For the Reds, Roger Nelson was 7-6 over 28 starts and Scheinblum hit .222 over 65 AB with CIN. So overwhelming win for KC on that trade.

He was the next guy behind Baylor who did a lot of DHing. In Royals history he is 5th all time in hits with 1924, 4th in games (1837), 2nd in doubles (449), 4th in triples (63), 6th in homers (169), 3rd in RBI (passed by Sal Perez (1012) and finally his .293 average is 5th all time.

All Time Stat: As his total showed he was only behind Brett in team doubles all time. There have been 33 times a player has hit 54 doubles or more in a season. McRae had 54 in 1977. Between 1937 and 1996 only McRae and George Kell in 1950 had seasons of 54 or more doubles.

Career stats manager: 399-473. From what I recall in his managerial career was one night when he flipped out and ripped the phone of his desk because he was “being asked stupid questions…”. It was a buzz on Sportscenter. Lots of beeps, I remember someone was hit with the cord, in the face. A reporter I think. The tirade sounded like 3 minutes of any Gordon Ramsey show.

The Royals didnt fare well under McRae, to be honest that mid 80s magic was gone and they didnt have ready replacements. He started midseason in 1991 with KC taking over from John Wathan. That was the best they would play under McRae, going 66-58. They lost 90 games and then in 1993 they won 84, when the strike ended the season in 1994 their record was 64-51. He was not asked back it seems as they turned the reigns over to Bob Boone in 1995.

Hal was hired in 2001 as the 2nd manager in Tampa Bay Rays history, a job he would later lose to Lou Piniella. The Rays were still not a good franchise and were not even 10 years old. His record with TB was 113-196.

Fun Fact: He won a ring as a coach for the Cardinals when they defeated the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series, four games to one.

Ever a Future Star?  He was on 2 rookie cards. 1968 Reds Rookie Stars with Bill Henry and 1970 Topps Reds Rookie Stars with Vern Geishert and Wayne Simpson.

Rookie or final card? No and he would get manager cards in 1992-1993, and 2002.

Hall of Fame? Number retired? Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame

Links to stories including Hal McRae.