In 1967, voters in Jackson County approved the bonds for the Truman Sports Complex, which replaced the multipurpose
Municipal Stadium and featured a football stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs and a baseball stadium for the
Kansas City Athletics. The owner of the Athletics,
Charles O. Finley, had just signed a new lease to remain in Kansas City. The proposal of the Truman Sports Complex was unusual, as conventional wisdom at the time held that separate football and baseball stadiums were not commercially viable. Before the
1968 season, however, Finley moved the A's to
Oakland, California, and their brand-new
multipurpose stadium. of the
White Sox pitches against
Royals' outfielder
Tom Poquette during a September 1976 game. After the move, Senator
Stuart Symington of
Missouri threatened to press for the revocation of baseball's antitrust exemption if they did not give Kansas City a new team. Major League Baseball responded by hastily granting expansion franchises to four cities, including a Kansas City team owned by local pharmaceutical magnate
Ewing Kauffman. The new teams were due to start to play in . However, Symington forced MLB to move up the start date to , as he was unwilling to have Kansas City wait three years to have baseball again. The other expansion team in the American League, the
Seattle Pilots, were without a suitable stadium in
1969 and the accelerated schedule forced by Symington led to their bankruptcy after just one season. In
1970, they relocated to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the
Milwaukee Brewers. With lawsuits pending, Seattle returned to the majors with the
Mariners in
1977. Jackson County continued its plans to build a new
ballpark. Like the rest of the complex, it was designed by
Kivett and Myers, and constructed by the joint venture of the Sharp, Kidde, and
Webb construction firms. Royals Stadium broke ground on July 11, 1968, and was opened in on April 10,
1973, with a 12–1 win over the
Texas Rangers that had 39,464 fans in attendance. Five weeks later,
Nolan Ryan of the
California Angels threw the first of his seven
no-hitters, blanking the Royals 3–0, three walks away from a
perfect game. Two months later on July 24, the stadium hosted the
first of its
two All-Star Games. but lost the Series in six games. On October 11,
1985, in Game 3 of the
ALCS, Brett hit two home runs off
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher
Doyle Alexander, made a back-handed stop at third base to throw out a runner at home, and recorded the final out to give the
Royals a much-needed 6–5 win. The Royals went on to win the American League pennant in seven games. The stadium hosted the Royals' first playoff game in nearly 29 years when the city's former team, the
Athletics, came to town in
2014 for the
Wild Card Game. Despite trailing 7–3 in the eighth inning, Kansas City rallied to win 9-8 and advanced to the
ALDS. They won their ALDS, the
ALCS, and hosted Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 of the
World Series, but fell to the
San Francisco Giants. In
2015, Kansas City returned to the playoffs, this time as the top seed in the American League. Games 1, 2, and 5 of the
ALDS against the
Houston Astros were played at the stadium, with the Royals winning Games 2 and 5, as well as Games 1, 2, and 6 of the
ALCS against the
Toronto Blue Jays, with the Royals winning all three games. The stadium hosted games 1 and 2 of the
World Series against the
New York Mets as a result of the American League winning the
All-Star Game 6–3. The Royals won
Game 1 (5–4 in 14 innings) and
game 2 (7–1), as well and closed out the Mets in five games to win the 2015 World Series. ==Future==