Original Royal Al Fitzmorris passes away at 78

Al Fitzmorris, an original Royal who compiled one of the best winning percentages in club history and also owns a franchise hitting first, died Wednesday evening after a months-long battle with cancer, his family announced. He was 78.

“It’s by the grace of God my Pops went peacefully to heaven to meet his maker tonight!!” Matt Fitzmorris posted on Facebook. “He’s now having that catch with his Dad and living his best life. Until we meet again!! Love you more than you will ever know!!”

The Royals released a statement on social media:

“We mourn the passing of Al Fitzmorris, an Original Royal who joined us in 1969, was an integral part of our first playoff team in 1976, and stayed in Kansas City after his playing days to raise a family while also remaining actively involved with our community efforts.

“We send our condolences to Al’s loved ones and will miss Al dearly.”

A switch-hitter who began his career as an outfielder, Fitzmorris holds the distinction of being the first player in Royals history to get a hit from both sides of the plate in the same game. In the second game of a doubleheader on July 19, 1970, Fitzmorris doubled from the right side in the third inning and singled from the left side in the fifth.

Taken by Kansas City 1968 expansion draft, Fitzmorris spent most of the Royals’ inaugural 1969 season pitching for Triple-A Omaha. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-hander went 10-6 with a 3.75 ERA and earned a callup to the parent club that September.

He made his Major League debut at the age of 23 on Sept. 8, 1969, in Oakland, pitching three scoreless innings of relief and earning the victory. In seven relief appearances to close out the season, he was 1-1 with two saves and a 4.22 ERA in 10 2/3 innings.

“You are confident that you can do your job, but coming from A ball in ’68 to the big leagues in 1969 was a big jump,” Fitzmorris told Kansas City’s FOX4 in 2018. “I trusted myself and hoped I was good enough to make that leap in that short of time. I was only 23.”

Fitzmorris spent the next three years in the big leagues, pitching mostly out of the bullpen, before returning to Omaha for the first half of 1973. When he returned that July, he was primarily a starter. From that point through the end of the 1976 season, he went 52-32 with a 3.13 ERA in 119 games (108 starts, 31 of which he completed) and compiled 14.0 of his career 16.6 bWAR.

“If we didn’t throw complete games they had somebody in the minor leagues ready to come take our place,” he once said.

Fitzmorris posted his highest WAR (4.5) and lowest ERA (2.79) in ’74 and won a career-high 16 games in ’75. In ’76, his 2.3 WAR was tops among Royals starters as they went 90-72 and won the AL West for the first time, starting a three-year run of division titles under future Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog.

Fitzmorris never got the chance to pitch in the postseason, however. In the five-game 1976 ALCS against the Yankees, Herzog used just three starters: Larry Gura, Dennis Leonard and Andy Hassler. After Kansas City won Game 4, the manager was asked about his pitching plans for the decisive Game 5.

“I just don’t know,” he told reporters. “It will either be Dennis Leonard, Marty Pattin, Al Fitzmorris or Paul Splittorff. I’m leaning toward Leonard because he throws hard.”

Leonard got the call, but the Royals lost on Chris Chambliss’ walk-off home run in the ninth inning. It was Fitzmorris’ last game in a Royals uniform. In parts of eight seasons, he went 70-48 with a 3.46 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. He struck out 391 in 1,098 innings, completing 35 games and pitching 11 shutouts. His .593 winning percentage is second in Royals history to Jason Vargas’ .596 – though Vargas only pitched 421 innings for the club.

Fitzmorris also ranks in the top 10 in ERA (fifth), wins (10th), complete games (eighth), shutouts (sixth), home runs per nine innings (fourth, with a 0.541 rate), walks (ninth with 359) and wild pitches (fifth with 56).

The Blue Jays selected Fitzmorris in the expansion draft that November and traded him to Cleveland for catcher Alan Ashby and utilityman Doug Howard. In ’77, Fitzmorris was 6-10 in 29 games (21 starts) for Cleveland, posting a 5.41 ERA in 133 innings. After seven relief appearances – and one start in Triple-A – in ’78, he was released on July 13.

He signed with the Angels five days later and pitched in nine games (two starts) down the stretch, going 1-0 with a 1.71 ERA in 31 2/3 innings. A free agent after the season, he signed with the Padres in February 1979 but never pitched for San Diego. He started eight games for their Triple-A Hawaii affiliate in his final professional season.

Alan James Fitzmorris was born on March 21, 1946, in Buffalo, N.Y. He attended San Diego’s Madison High School and originally signed with the White Sox – as an outfielder – before the 1965 season. He spent some time as a two-way player in ’66 and ’67 before committing to pitching full-time in ’68 before being drafted by the Royals. In 99 career Major League at-bats, he hit .242 (24-for-99) with five doubles and eight RBIs.

After his playing career, Fitzmorris returned to the Kansas City area, hosting pre- and postgame reports on Royals radio broadcasts. He even spent some time fronting a rock band called, simply, 39 – for his uniform number with the Royals. In addition to his charity work and other appearances with the team, he was a regular at golf outings for various causes and worked in a roofing business owned by his son Matt.