Kansas City Monarchs Game Information
September 2, 2022 – American Association (AA) – Kansas City Monarchs News Release
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: The Monarchs completed the sweep of the Winnipeg
Goldeyes in and a perfect 6-0 road trip. The Monarchs Nick Belzer went five
innings for the win and a five run sixth inning from the sticks was the difference in
an 8-5 winner over “Goldie”. Alex Valdez notched his first save of the season for
the Monarchs while Ryan Grotjohn drove in three for “kay-see.”
TODAY: The Monarchs (62-34, 2nd in the West) host the division leading Fargo-
Moorhead RedHawks (63-34, 1st place in the West) in the first game of a four-
game series to wrap up the regular season.
PITCHING MATCHUP: The Monarchs will send Basehor, Kansas native Brock
Gilliam (6-3, 4.74) to the bump to face American Association all time strike out
king LHP Kevin McGovern (9-3, 3.71).
UP NEXT: The Monarchs will be post season bound for the fourth consecutive
season a franchise record. The first game is Wednesday September 7 with the
opponent and location to be determined.
IT COMES DOWN TO THIS: The fight for the West Division has come down to the final
weekend with the Monarchs and the RedHawks facing off. The skinny on the final four are
below for the Monarchs and RedHawks with the top seed on the line for the postseason
and the right to pick the first round opponent and overall #1 seed..
VS. FARGO-MOORHEAD: The Monarchs took two of three games over the RedHawks back in May at Legends Field and took two of three in North
Dakota on including a comeback win on July 24th the same day Buck O ‘Neil went into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. This is the third
series of the two teams this year. Monarchs lead the series this season at 4-2. Over the last two seasons the two clubs have split the season series 3-
3 in 2021 and 3-3 in 2019. In the American Association the RedHawks hold the advantage 46-37. The pair played last season in the American
Association finals with Kansas City taking all three games.
THE SWINGING 60 ‘S: The Monarchs win Tuesday night gave the club 61 wins and added one more Wednesday. It is the third time the franchise has won at
least 60 in a season. The team did it in 2021 (69-31), 2018 (62-37) and this season. Those two clubs were playoff teams and league champions managed by
Joe Calfapietra.
HALL POM: Matt Hall was named the Rawlings Pitche of the Month for the American Association on Thursday. (see release in notes)
GOING YARD: The Monarchs lead the American Association in home runs with 160 home runs and for the second season in a row broke
the single season American Association mark of 147. The next record is the franchise record of 162 set in 2010 in the Northern League.
Currently the Monarchs are averaging 1.65 home runs per game with a current pace of 168. The Monarchs have gone yard in 74 of 96
games (77% of the games played) and have hit two or more home runs in a game 39 times.
HOME RUN LEGENDS: The All-Time franchise home run list sits currently at-
1-Eddie Pearson
2003-2006
69
2-Jake Blackwood
2009-2010, 2015-2016
60
2-Anthony Lewis (Duluth)
1998-2000
60
4-Jim Fasano
2008-2011
59
5-Casey Gillaspie
2019, 2021-2022
52
6-Greg Jacobs
2005-06, 08-09
47
7-Ray Sadler
2010-2014
45
7-Craig Hurba
2006, 08-09
45
9-Jan Hernandez
2021-2022
42
10-Darnell Sweeney
2019, 2021-2022
39
TOPS IN LONG BALLS AND STRIKEOUTS: The Monarchs lead the league in home runs (160) and strikeouts as a pitching staff (928). If the
Monarchs maintain that lead, they will be the fourth team in league history to achieve that status. The other three teams were the 2013 Wichita
Wingnuts (107 HR/782 SO), 2016 Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (121 HR/838 SO) and the 2019 Chicago Dogs (122 HR/895 SO).
POST SEASON BOUND: The win Saturday August 20th punched the Monarchs fourth straight post season ticket and ninth as a franchise. KC
sat out the 2020 season due to the pandemic but made the post season as a wild card in 2018, a division champion in 2019 and 2021 and at
the moment trail first place Fargo-Moorhead by 1.0 games with the teams having four games head-to-head Labor Day weekend.
The Monarchs fourth straight playoff berth sets a new franchise record and breaks a tie with the 2008-2010 T-Bones who made it three straight
years. The club was managed in 2008 and 2009 by Andy McCauley and 2010 by Tim Doherty.
RUNAWAY: The Monarchs have score 671 runs this season and broke their own franchise and American Association mark of 667 runs set
last season. That total is also a new American Association record.
LEAGUE LEADERS: The Monarchs lead the American Association at the plate hitting .294. The team also leads runs scored (671), home
runs (160), OBP (.383) and OPS (.890). While the Monarchs are known for the long ball, they are second in triples with 22. The team has
376extra base hits so far this season. On the hill the club is tied with Fargo-Moorhead with the lowest ERA at 4.43 and tops in strike outs
(928) and second in WHIP (1.48).
MONARCHS EXTRAS
REIGN REBORN: The old Kansas City T-Bones franchise was sold to Mark Brandmeyer following the 2019 season. With the 2020 season
postponed the ownership took the opportunity to rebrand the ball club. On January 21, 2021 #reignreborn returned with the announcement
from the Negro Leagues Museum President, Bob Kendrick, that a partnership had come together with the Kansas City T-Bones for the team
to be known going forward as the “Kansas City Monarchs Baseball Club.” The long-anticipated name change and terms of the agreement
were revealed in a press conference at the museum with Kendrick, T-Bones owner, Mark Brandmeyer, NLBM Board members and city
officials all in attendance. The team that took the field in the former T-
Bone’s stadium in 2021, now known as Legends Field are now known
as the Kansas City Monarchs. 8/16
ABOUT THE MUSUEM: Established in a one-room office in 1990, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is a privately funded, not-
for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its profound impact on the
social advancement of America. In 2006, the United States Congress designated the NLBM as “America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball
Museum.”
Where History Touches Home-The Negro Leagues Baseball
Museum (NLBM) is the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and
celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its impact on the social advancement of America. The privately funded, 501 c3,
not-for-profit is located in the heart of Kan
sas City, Missouri’s Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District. The NLBM operates two blocks from the
Paseo YMCA where Andrew “Rube” Foster established the Negro National League in 1920. The NLBM opened its doors to the public in a
tiny, one-room office space in
1991 with a dream of building a permanent facility that would pay rightful tribute to America’s unsung baseball
heroes. In November of 1997, under the leadership of its late chairman John “Buck” O’Neil, that dream became a reality when the NLBM
moved into its new 10,000 square-foot home inside a cultural complex known as the Museums at 18th & Vine. Since that time, the NLBM has
welcomed more than 2-million visitors and has become one of the most important cultural institutions in the world for its work to give voice to
a once forgotten chapter of baseball and American history.
MONARCHS HISTORY: Kansas City Monarchs Owned by J.L. Wilkinson, a white businessman, the Monarchs were one of the best known
and most successful black teams. The Monarchs captured a total of ten pennants, tying the Homestead Grays for the most flags by any
Negro League team, and suffered only one losing season during their entire association with the Negro Leagues. And that season was during
World War II, when the roster was decimated by the loss of players to military service. The Monarchs also hold the distinction of having won
the first World Series ever played between opposing leagues, both in the initial World Series in 1924 between the Negro National League and
the Eastern Colored League, and again in the reinstated World Series in 1942 between the Negro National League and the Negro American
League.
A charter member of the Negro National League, they played through the 1930 season, winning pennants in 1923-1925 and 1929 while
never experiencing a losing season. They narrowly missed a fourth straight pennant in 1926, when they won the first half title but lost a bitter
nine game playoff to the Chicago American Giants by dropping a doubleheader on the last day. The Monarchs played in the first two World
Series ever played, facing the Hilldale team on both occasions.
After dropping out of the league they played independent ball until joining the Negro American League as a charter member in 1937 and
remaining even after the league lost its major status. During the first six seasons (1937-1942) they won five pennants, missing only in 1938.
After the return of many of their best players, who had been called to service during World War II, they annexed another flag in 1946. In
1942, the first World Series since 1927 was played between the Monarchs and the Homestead Grays, with the Monarchs sweeping the
Grays in four straight games. In 1946 the Monarchs lost a tough seven game Series to the Newark Eagles.
In 1948 the Monarchs won the second half of the split season but lost a seven game play off to the Birmingham Black Barons for the pennant
and thereby missed a chance to appear in the last Negro World Series ever played. Following that World Series, the Negro National League
folded and the Negro American League absorbed some of the franchises and expanded into division play. The Monarchs won the first half
title in 1949 and annexed a division title in 1950. Wilkinson had sold the franchise after the 1948 season to Tom Baird, who continued to
operate the Monarchs through the 1950s, but by then the league was strictly a minor league operation.
Source: James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1994.
EXTRA EXTRA: The Monarchs have 376 extra base hits this season passing last years total of 360 hit by the club. It is the first time the Monarchs
have had back-to-back 300 plus extra base hit seasons since 2010 and 2011. The 371 was the franchise high broken Wednesday night.
FIVE IN A ROW: Under the direction of Joe Calfapietra, the team has finished above .500 four straight seasons and will once again hit that mark this
season with the record currently 61-34. The franchise has never been above back-to-back seasons in either city prior to his arrival of .500 seasons.
The T-Bones did reach the post season three straight seasons from 2008-2010 but only in 2010 did the team finish above .500.
Top 5 All-time win marks:
2021 – 69-31
2018 – 62-37
2022- 62-34
2019 – 58-42
2010 – 58-42
2017 – 57-43
2012 – 51-39
AUGUST: The Monarchs began the month 2-8 after 10 games but went 15-3 after that to finish 17-11 for the month. It was the 13th time the
franchise had won at least 16 games.
The Monarchs tops months in franchise history:
July 2021 24-7
August 2019 23-8
August 2021 21-8
July 2018 19-9
June 2015 16-8
June 2018 17-9
July 2015 17-10
August 2022- 17-11
July 2011 17-11
August 2018 17-12
July 2017 16-10
June 2017 16-11
MONARCHS FLASHBACK: On September 2, 1947, the Kansas City Monarchs beat the House of David 5-4 in Sioux City, Iowa before 3,500
fans. It was the Monarchs third straight victory of the “bearded” club after taking a pair of games earlier in the week at Des Moines and
Lincoln. The game was played at the home of the Sioux City Soos at Soos Park. Willard Brown hit a pair of homers after recently being
released by the St. Louis Browns. He added another two singles going four for four.
RECORD K’S TIED: The Monarchs pushed their season total strikeouts to 928 Wednesday night. Last Monday the club reached the 900 mark. The
Monarch’s pitching staff has reached the 800 strike out mark in each of the last five seasons the team has played including a then franchise high 897
in 2017. The franchise had never hit more than 653 which is the high set in 2004. The league mark is 943 set last season by Chicago. The Monarchs
need 15 strikeouts over the last four games to pass that mark.
POST SEASON 2022: The American Association implemented a new playoff format for this season.
The top four teams from each division
will make the post season, with three rounds to determine the winner of the Miles Wolff Cup. The regular season East and West Division
champions will pick their first round Division Playoff Series opponent among the other three playoff teams in their division. The post-season
will begin with four Division Playoff Series on Wednesday, September 7. The best-of-three format will see the lower seed host Game 1.
Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) will shift to the home ballpark of the higher seed on September 9 & 10. Following a travel day, the East and
West Division Championship Series get started on Monday, September 12. This round is also a best-of-three format with the lower seed
hosting Game 1, with Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) again moving to the home ballpark of the higher seed. Those games will be played on
September 14 & 15. The Miles Wolff Cup Finals open on Saturday, September 17 at the home of the lower seed. Game 2 of the best-of-five
series will take place Sunday, September 18. The Wolff Cup Finals shift to the stadium of the higher seed for Games 3, 4 (if necessary) and 5
(if necessary) on September 20-22.
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