An American professional baseball team from Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas City Royals are known as the Royals. The Royals represent the American League Central in Major League Baseball.
This expansion franchise was established in 1969 and has participated in four World Series, winning two of them (in 1985 and 2015) and losing two (in 1980 and 2014).
“Royals” is a nod to the American Royal, a livestock exhibition and rodeo in Kansas City that began in 1899, as well as the names of two former Negro league baseball clubs from the early part of the twentieth century who shared the same name.
Chet Brewer coached two semi-professional baseball teams (one in Kansas City during the 1910s, and a California Winter League team headquartered in Los Angeles during the 1940s) that toured the Midwest.
Although the Los Angeles Monarchs had personnel ties to the Monarchs, they could not utilize the moniker.
Additionally, the name fits in with the city’s other notable professional sports teams including the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, the NBA’s defunct Kansas City Kings, and the Negro National League’s former Kansas City Monarchs.
A contest to name the team was organized in 1968, and over 17,000 people participated. For his “Royals” entry, bridge engineer Sanford Porte from Overland Park, Kansas, won the competition.
His motivation had nothing to do with a desire to be treated like a king or queen.
According to Porte, the new Kansas City Royals baseball team should be called the Royals because of Missouri’s billion-dollar livestock revenue, Kansas City’s status as the nation’s main stocker and feeder market, and the nationally known American Royal procession and pageant.
Six of the team’s board members supported the name, with the sole dissenter being team owner Ewing Kaufman, who later reversed his vote and said the term had grown on him.
What Is Kansas City Royals Net Worth?
The Kansas City Royals have an estimated net worth of $1.11 billion in 2022.