After four brief cups of coffee with the team, the Houston Astros discarded John Mayberry at the 1971 Winter Meetings, trading him to Kansas City. The beefy left-handed hitting first baseman from Detroit proceeded to hit 20+ homers in four straight seasons, topping the 100-RBI mark three times. The Astros failed miserably at understanding Big John, to the benefit of the Royals.
“They wanted me to cut down on my strikeouts,” Mayberry said of the Houston brain trust “But all long ball hitters seem to strike out a lot, don’t they? What happened was that I not only wasn’t cutting down on my strikeouts, but I wasn’t hitting the long ball anymore either.” Ironically, Mayberry ended up with more walks than strikeouts for his 15-year career, while hitting 255 home runs.
In the 1977 Playoffs, Mayberry showed up hungover for a day game after a night game, committed and error and struck out two times before Whitey Herzog pulled him from the lineup. Even though Whitey liked Big John, he demanded the team get rid of him, and the following spring, the Royals practically handed Mayberry to the Blue Jays.
Kansas City Royals All-Time Team
C: Salvador Perez
1B: John Mayberry
2B: Frank White
SS: Alcides Escobar
3B: George Brett
LF: Willie Wilson
CF: Amos Otis
RF: Danny Tartabull
DH: Mike Sweeney
SP: Bret Saberhagen
SP: Zack Greinke
SP: Kevin Appier
SP: Mark Gubicza
SP: Danny Jackson
RP: Dan Quisenberry
RP: Al Hrabosky
RP: Greg Holland
RP: Jeff Montgomery
MGR: Whitey Herzog
