Kansas City Royals History - 1968 Expansion Draft


Important Dates in development of the Kansas City Royals (from 1969 media guide)
January 11, 1968	Ewing Kauffman becomes owner of the franchise
January 15, 1968	Board of Directors is named and is made up of Ewing Kauffman, Mrs. Ewing Kauffman, Charles Hughes, Ernie Mehl, Les Milgram, Earl Smith, and Charles Truitt
January 16, 1968	Cedric Tallis is appointed Executive Vice-President and eighth and final member of the Board of Directors
February 5, 1968	Charlie Metro becomes Director of Player Procurement; Lou Gorman is named Director of Player Development
March 21, 1968	Board of Directors select "Royals" as team nickname after study of more than 17,000 suggestions
April 4, 1968	Kansas City announces plans to participate in a co-op farm club in Dubuque, Iowa, during the 1968 season, thereby starting it's farm system.
April 25, 1968	Gerald Lyscio, a free agent, becomes the first player to sign with the Royals. (He promptly won his first three games for Dubuque, and in May was selected Midwest League Player of the Month).
April 27, 1968	Kansas City becomes owner of it's first farm club by signing Corning, NY, of the New York-Penn League for the 1968 season.
May 28, 1968	Kansas City is assigned to the Western Division as American League splits into two divisions, effective for 1969 season.
May 31, 1968	Royals sign three year lease to conduct Spring Training at Fort Myers, FL.
June 4, 1968	Ewing Kauffman signs a four-year lease for the Royals to play at Municipal Stadium.
June 6, 1968	Kansas City selects 50 players in baseball's Free Agent Draft, the first such draft for the Royals
July 11, 1968	Ground is broken for Kansas City's 43-million dollar Jackson County Sports Complex.
September 5, 1968	First season ticket drive is launched. First day sales total of 2,156 season tickets.
September 9, 1968	Joe Gordon is hired to manage the Royals
September 25, 1968	Season ticket sales reach 6,334, an all-time American League record.
October 15, 1968	Roger Nelson becomes first player on Kansas City's Major League roster in being named initial choice among 30 selections in American League expansion draft. Royals concentrate on younger players.
December 12, 1968	Royals complete first Major League trade by sending Hoyt Wilhelm to the California Angels for Ed Kirkpatrick and Dennis Paepke.