MLB / Players

Steve Busby

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 2 in · 205 lb

BornSeptember 29, 1949 · Burbank, CA, USA

MLB debutSeptember 8, 1972

Final gameAugust 26, 1980

Seasons8 (1972–1980)

Kansas City Royals 1972–1976; Kansas City Royals 1978–1980

Percentile snapshot

1975 season — qualified pitchers

32.9

54.9

82.9

52.4

SHO

70.7

233

36.6

51.2

45.1

160

81.7

37.8

260.3

80.5

ERA

3.08

76.8

WHIP

1.206

82.9

K/9

5.53

68.3

FIP

3.19

81.7

FIP-

83.0

90.2

ERA+

125.1

86.6

sWAR

4.9

85.4

of 83 qualified 1975 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

104.0

53.9

sWAR

12.5

89.2

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	H	2B	RBI	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1972	5	15	15	3	1	4	3	.200	.200	.267	.467	21.2	36.8	.216	1.3
1973	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.7
1974	38	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.3
1975	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.9
1976	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.1
1978	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.7
1979	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.6
1980	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.6

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1972	5	5	3	1	3	0	28	7	8	31	1	40.0	1.58	.900	6.98	1.65	52.3	199.6	1.3
1973	37	37	16	15	7	1	246	112	105	174	18	238.3	4.23	1.473	6.57	3.50	87.4	94.6	1.7
1974	38	38	22	14	20	3	284	110	92	198	14	292.3	3.39	1.286	6.10	2.88	75.9	111.9	4.3
1975	34	34	18	12	18	3	233	89	81	160	18	260.3	3.08	1.206	5.53	3.19	83.0	125.1	4.9
1976	13	13	3	3	1	0	58	35	49	29	7	71.7	4.40	1.493	3.64	5.25	149.7	79.9	-0.1
1978	7	5	1	0	0	0	24	18	15	10	2	21.3	7.59	1.828	4.22	5.22	136.0	50.6	-0.7
1979	22	12	6	6	4	0	71	38	64	45	10	94.3	3.63	1.431	4.29	5.23	121.9	118.2	1.6
1980	11	6	1	3	0	0	59	29	19	12	3	42.3	6.17	1.843	2.55	4.60	112.7	66.2	-0.6

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

167

RBI

.2000

OBP

.2000

SLG

.2667

OPS

.4667

Pitching

G (P)

167

150

SHO

1,061

SO (P)

659

BB allowed

433

ERA

3.717

WHIP

1.3539

K/9

5.59

479th-highest career K/9

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	H	2B	RBI	TB
1972-09-20	KC @ LAA Gameday	4	3	1	3	4
1972-09-13	CWS @ KC Gameday	2	0	0	1	0
1972-09-08	MIN @ KC Gameday	3	0	0	0	0
1972-09-26	KC @ CWS Gameday	4	0	0	0	0
1972-10-03	TEX @ KC Gameday	2	0	0	0	0

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1973-07-10	KC @ MIL Gameday	9.0	7	3	3	5	13	0
1973-08-09	BOS @ KC Gameday	7.2	5	2	2	2	11	1
1972-09-26	KC @ CWS Gameday	9.0	5	1	1	1	10	1
1973-06-24	TEX @ KC Gameday	9.0	9	4	4	1	10	1
1973-07-06	DET @ KC Gameday	9.0	7	1	1	2	9	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

2× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.