during his first extended stint in "the Show", with his first career hit coming in April 1970 before he was sent back down to AAA. It came against the San Francisco Giants in a 7–4 loss; he hit a single to right field off of Giants right-hander Frank Reberger. The 1971 season was yet another year split between the minor leagues and the major leagues. While he hit .324 with 13 home runs in 64 games in the minors that year, Mayberry could only muster a .182 batting average in 46 games with Houston, hitting seven home runs and striking out 32 times. The Astros tried to turn Mayberry into a slap hitter rather than utilizing his natural power: They wanted me to cut down on my strikeouts,' he said, 'but all long ball hitters seem to strike out a lot, don't they? What happened was that I not only wasn't cutting down on my strikeouts, but I wasn't hitting the long ball any more either. Mayberry was traded along with minor league infielder Dave Grangaard from the Astros to the Kansas City Royals for Jim York and Lance Clemons at the Winter Meetings on December 2, 1971. The trade turned out to be very one-sided in favor of the Royals. Kansas City Royals Mayberry was a classic slugging first baseman who batted left-handed. In his first season with the Royals, he hit 25 home runs and drove in 100 runs. His 78 walks were slightly more than his 74 strikeouts, and his .298 batting average came with the re-discovery of his power stroke. The 1973 season produced nearly identical statistics, but yielded better production. Mayberry led the league in walks (122) and on-base percentage (.417) while still batting .278, hitting 26 home runs, and driving in 100 for the second consecutive season. Mayberry's pure statistics, though, were even more remarkable in light of the fact that the Royals had no other power hitters in the lineup to protect him. Other than center fielder Amos Otis, who equaled Mayberry's 1973 home run total, no other Royals batter achieved double-digits in home runs. Mayberry's best season in Kansas City was in 1975. He set career marks in doubles, home runs, runs scored, and RBI. His 34 home runs in a season were a Royals team record when he retired after the 1982 season. He was named the American League Player of