I Am a Royals Fan and I Feel Important Today

It is 2015 and our Royals are going to be good this year again, right? It IS next year already! We are going to be good again this year, right? Please come back 2014, please come back again. Please come back. Please do it again. 1985; please do it again. Please be good, as a team. 1980; please be good again. Please be good. Be as good as a team can be. Please be good 2015, please be good!

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I feel important today.

Like the day you graduate. Like the day you marry. Like the day that your first baby comes, or when any baby comes…or…Well…almost like that day, kind of like that…but yeah, just like that.

I am going to Game Seven. I feel important today.

I feel important today. Like I did something big. I am just a fan. But as a fan I am a part of something; something very big, very positive and very, very large.

I feel important today. My team is playing.

All and everything since 1969 blurs before my eyes as I walk through the parking lot toward my gate. I am walking through the parking lot and there are a lot of important people here today, all decorated in their Royal blue beads, wearing their Royals tiaras…tiaras fit for a queen…sporting new Royals shirts, old Royals sweatshirts, worn Royals caps, and plenty of Royals hats…plenty. Just Plenty.

All the girls and the ladies look so pretty in their blue, and the men and the boys look so Royal in all of their royal. All the kids with more energy than energy can abound.

All and everything since the year of 1969 blurs before my eyes as I walk through the parking lot up toward my gate in the same way I always do. That is important, you know. Do it the same way. Wear the right Royals things. Wear the right blue. This is important. It smells soooooo good walking through the parking lot with the barbeque and the barbeque and the barbeque and the barbeque. It smells soooooo good. I purposely walk through the smoke of the barbeques to smell it even more and to hold it and to carry it with me and to be present. Very present. I am here. HERE! In KC! HERE! Everybody is here…very, very early, and everybody is ready to go. This is going to be good.

This is Game Seven and we are all important today.

This is last-minute get ready time, like you are going on a date time, like get it right time. Make sure you’ve got on all your right blue, head to your gate the same way that you always do, show them your ticket and get to your seat…and…and…and, sit down…and just think…and just remember for a minute before it all starts that you are at Game Seven…And then with your unyielding ability to slow time you think…”It’s just a game, a big game, a very big game, but it is just a game…and there is still 90 feet between each base and the pitcher’s rubber is 60 feet, six inches to home plate…and we still bat nine…and they can only have nine on their side too…so here it is…it is just a game…it is Game Seven you know, even after all…it’s just a game’.

And just as Game Seven starts it is…1985. 1985. Do you remember when we played the Cardinals in 1985? Oh, wow! Whitey was their manager, but he used to be ours…We have Dick Howser…that’s a good thing. They had Ozzie and we had George. Wow, Ozzie was good. Do you remember that? Were you alive to remember that? And George played so hard, so very very hard, and you do remember that for sure? You do! You do! And he would hit all those doubles all the time. Remember all of those doubles, REMEMBER all the doubles!

It is 2014 and thousands of us feel good today. 40,535 of us. Hundreds of thousands of us locals, in fact. All wearing blue. All shades of blue. All hues of blue. All Royal blue. Millions and millions and extra millions all across the globe watching on the tube. All feeling good, all feeling blue, the good kind of blue. The Royal blue. All feeling good Royal blue today. This is going to be good! This is going to be good!

Wow, everybody is coming to KC…This is awesome. It is 2014. It is 1985. It is 1980. It is 1969. It is 1973. Everybody is in KC!

It’s 2014 and Oct. 29 and we are playing the Giants. It is Game Seven. It is Oct. 29 and it is an absolutely beautiful day. Crisp and clean and clear weather. It is just two days after what it was 29 years ago. Twenty nine years. TWENTY NINE YEARS! That is a long time. A very long, long time ago. For all of the new Royals fans born after Oct. 27, 1985, thank you for staying strong. THANK YOU! This is your 1985. This is our 1985. This is all of our 1985 all over again. We are going to do it again! This is 2014.

Ned Yost’s lineup, ready to go! Hosmer’s at first and Moose is at third. Omar Infante is our second baseman and his shoulder is killing him, but he is playing strong. Escobar is our shortstop and leads off and Cain is in center field. I like Cain! He is fast. Gordon and his Gold Glove are in left field and Aoki is in right. Salvy is behind the plate and Guthrie is pitching. Dyson ready to roll at any time. Billy is DHing and this is going to be good. This is going to be good.

This is 2014. This is Game Seven. Today is going to be good…And all and everything since the year of 1969 is blurred before my very eyes.

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It is Oct. 27, 1985. I feel important today.

1985 and Game Seven, and we are playing the Cardinals. There are 41,658 at the stadium…and I am watching from my couch…my couch. Game Seven is at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., USA, and I am watching the game from my couch. From my couch…I can never let this happen again. I need to be present. I need to be a witness. My couch and my team is in Game Seven. Oh my!

1985 and Lonnie Smith is our guy in left field and Willie Wilson is in center, of course; I like watching Willie hit triples cause he can fly. George is at third base. Frank White is playing second base and he is sooooo smooth. Franky built this stadium you know…Literally! Sundberg is our catcher and Balboni is at first. Darryl Motley is in right field and Buddy Biancalana is at shortstop. Bret Saberhagen is on the hill and hitting for himself, too. Pitchers hit for themselves in odd years, that’s how they used to do. That’s Jim Frey’s lineup on the field, and we have McRae off the bench if we need a big hit. “Come on, Sabes!” Our best is pitching today and this is going to be awesome. Dan Quisenberry is ready if we need him and we got Buddy Black too…“Come on, Sabes! COME ON, Sabes!”

They’ve got Ozzie and Willie McGee, and they have our Darrell Porter too. They even have Whitey Herzog. OUR Whitey Herzog…but we can do this…Dick Howser is writing our lineup…and we can DO this! Our roster is heavy, too with Mark Gubicza, and Danny Jackson, and Charlie Leibrandt, and Dennis Leonard…this has to go our way! This just has to!

It’s Oct. 27, 1985 and it’s Game Seven and we get two in the second, three in the third, and, no way!…six in the fifth…we got this…no wait, we have to finish this out…“COME ON SABES!”…and then Brett is hugging Bret and it is over…it is OVER…and we won, we won the World Series, we won the 1985 World Series, we won Game Seven…This is amazing!!! Ohhh myyy Goooooood!!! WE WON!!! 1985!!!!!!!

A ticker-tape and confetti and the memories live on…go on…and live on!

This is going to happen again next year; right, and then again and again and again…right? Please! Please, right? PLEASE!!!!!!!!

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It is Sept. 30, 2014, and we beat the A’s in a one-game,winner-take-all playoff game. In 12 innings. Craziest game ever!!! Salvy walked it off with a single down the line. Amazing! WE WON!!! Can you believe this?!?! This is awesome!!! We keep playing.

We go on.

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It is 1969. I am too young to remember this date and these times and this year, but I am sure that all of Kansas City feels important this year. 1969 and the A’s left town a couple of years ago to go to the coast. Charlie Finley made that happen. We have baseball back now and we are going to be called the Kansas City Royals. U.S. Sen. Stuart Symington of Missouri made this happen and so did pharmaceutical executive Ewing Kauffman. We are going to wear white and we are going to wear blue. Royal blue. We have minor league teams in Iowa and New York, and we are going to train in Fort Myers. We are an expansion team in the American League, and we even get to pick players right from other big league teams to come and play for us…so we got Bob Oliver from the Twins and Dick Drago from the Tigers, Al Fitzmorris from the White Sox and Moe Drabowsky from the Orioles. Moe Drabowsky is a tough name…He is a big guy…I hope he is good!

It is 1968. We just started drafting college and high school kids. Who are these guys? So we draft these players and we sign these players and they wear the Royal blue. The first pitch thrown in Royals history for our Corning Royals down on the farm, waaaaay out in New York state, is by a left-handed pitcher named Paul Splittorff. Paul is just 21 years old and from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa…Wait!…Stop!…Who?…Paul who? From Morningside what? From Sioux City where? Who is this guy? Who are these guys? I hope he studied hard at that small college up in Iowa in case this baseball thing doesn’t work for him. You know he will need a good job and a good life after his playing days are over.

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It is Oct. 5, 2014, and I am not a card player, but I think they call this a Royal Flush. Shields in the clincher. We just swept the mighty Angels of Los Angeles, at The K no less. Right here at home! Our Royals of Kansas City advance. This is GREAT!

We go on.

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April 8, 1969. Municipal Stadium. It is Opening Day for our new franchise and we get a 12-inning win versus Harmon Killebrew and the Minnesota Twins. Billy Martin was their manager. We seem to like this extra inning stuff!

Municipal Stadium was a grand old park on the corner of 22nd and Brooklyn right up the street from Arthur Bryant’s. Buck Martinez caught there. Tom Murphy pitched there. Bobby Knoop played second base there. Bob Lemon managed there. In 1923 it opened as Muehlebach Field. Municipal Stadium now and forever, and the Chiefs played there too…and so did the Beatles! Yes they did! In 1964. They stayed at the Muehlebach. They opened with Little Richard’s Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! Best seats in the house were $8.50. Charlie Finley made this happen. Yes he did.

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It is Oct. 15, 2014 and we beat the Orioles with our brooms AT HOME no less…again! Moustakas and his catch and Hosmer hugging Moose and we are going to the World Series. Yes. YES. YES!! We are going to the WORLD SERIES! YES WE ARE! YES!

We go on.

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With 1973 came a new stadium; April 10, to be exact. A big win over the Texas Rangers and a good way to start. Whitey Herzog was their manager and Billy Martin a coach. Royals Stadium, this new place would be called for Mr. Kauffman’s team…waaaaay out on I-70…Paul Splittorff was on the hill that day…A fitting way to start! Astro Turf and fountains and everything…Oh my! What a beautiful place! We brought some old players with us from the old stadium, like Lou Pinella, Steve Busby, and little Freddie Patek. Amos Otis, Cookie Rojas, and big John Mayberry.

We hosted the All-Star Game at our new Royals Stadium right away in ’73 too, and some really big stars came out to play…July 1973…Close to 20 future Hall-of-Famers on the field that day. Like Johnny Bench and Hank Aaron; Pete Rose and Willie Mays. Yes, Willie Mays, his last year in the bigs, and his 25th All-Star Game. Amos Otis, Cookie Rojas and John Mayberry were our Royals on the American League team along with Carlton Fisk, Rod Carew and Brooks Robinson. Bert Campaneris was the starting shortstop, Catfish Hunter the starting pitcher, and Nolan Ryan out of the pen.

1973 was the Midsummer Classic’s 40th anniversary, and some of the 1933 old timers came to our town and to our new Royals Stadium to celebrate. Welcome to Kansas City, Carl Hubbell, Lefty Gomez, Lefty Grove, Joe Cronin and Charlie Gehringer. Welcome to KC!

It was 1973 and with the new stadium that year we got some new players too…Mark Littell and Tom Poquette. Frank White and Doug Bird. Hal McRae and George Brett…Oh, the records they would set.

In 1975 then we got Whitey and we really got good. And then Dennis Leonard and Jamie Quirk. Larry Gura and “The Duke” John Wathan. Willie Wilson and Darrell Porter. Pete LaCock and Clint Hurdle. U.L. Washington and his toothpick. “The Mad Hungarian” Al Hrabosky and Rich Gale. Dan Quisenberry, Willie Mays Aikens, and Ken Brett, brother of George, youngest pitcher in World Series history ~ 19 years 20 days ~ Red Sox ~ 1967 ~ Amazing!

Thank you Joe Burke. These our new Royals they became.

Al Hrabosky says: “Like all players, I enjoy recognition. And, I’m realistic. I know the minute I quit playing, no one will care. I’m going to live it up while I can. A year after I quit, I’ll be forgotten.” Not true Al, not true; not true at all.

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So who do we play, who do we play, who do we play? It is 2014 and we wait a day to see who we play…and it will be the San Francisco Giants. We almost got the Cardinals and how would that have been! The Giants. This is 2014! Our Royals and the Giants! October 2014.

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October of 1980 and I am freezing with my mom and dad down the left field line at Royals Stadium watching Pete Rose and the Philadelphia Phillies take on our Kansas City Royals in the World Series. I spent that summer and many of the past just hanging out with Fred White and Denny Matthews and listening to the games. All I know is that Pete Rose is famous and George Brett is the best. I am 14 years old. Just 14 years old and just having fun. I could see that it was an important day to my parents…you know the way you can see that something is important to your parents. We swept the Yankees and Dick Howser in the playoffs to get to this World Series. Finally we got the Yankees! Howser was their manager. He got fired by George. Mr. Steinbrenner. Thank you, George. Thank you, New York.

1980 and Lonnie Smith is the Phillies guy in left-field along with Michael Jack Schmidt at third base. Our third baseman is better along with Willie in center and Frank at second base. Willie Aikens was at first base and Otis in center field. Clint Hurdle in right, Darrell Porter catching, and U.L. Washington at shortstop. John Wathan and Pete LaCock too!!! Hal McRae was our DH, and he would walk to the plate soooo slow and then hit a double…He was soooo good! Dennis Leonard, Rich Gale, Marty Pattin, Larry Gura, and Quiz, and Splitt…and this is going to be good.

And Game Six of 1980 went by in the City of Brotherly Love and Steve Carlton was the winner and Tug McGraw got the save. NOOOOOO!!!…It can not end this way…but it did…and it does…and we will be back next year. We can do this again. Next year!

YES, Next year! And John Schuerholz built it and people did come and Next year! And some pine tar and Next year! Next year!

And then there was 1985 and we were back again and we DID do it again…exclamation pointed with Brett hugging Bret…and now again we will do this again…Right? Soon right? Soon! For sure! RIGHT! Maybe next year!

It is June 17, 1987 and it is not a good day. Our skipper has left us and there is not much to say…I do not feel well today. As best as it can be put; Lee Judge and his cartoons and the Kansas City Star…Howser walks away slowly…with a caption that is quoted from a long time ago…Adam Lindsay Gordon from Down Under scribes: “Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone, Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in your own.”

Bo Jackson. David Cone. Kevin Seitzer. Danny Tartabull. Mike Macfarlane. Jim Eisenreich. Jeff Mongomery. Flash Gordon. Kevin Appier. Brian McRae. Brent Mayne. Mike Boddicker. Wally Joyner. Kirk Gibson. Kevin Koslofski. Gary Gaetti. Tom Goodwin.

1994 and Royals Stadium becomes The K. 1995 and we got real grass. Bluegrass and rye! Thanks George Toma. Thanks! What a beautiful place. My most favorite place…and to just sit and watch and watch and watch…

Joe Randa. Johnny Damon. Jose Offerman. Mike Sweeney. Sal Fasano. Jaime Bluma. Jermaine Dye. Jeff Suppan. Jeremy Giambi. Carlos Beltran. And welcome to the Royals Ryan Lefebvre. Donny Wengert. Mac Suzuki. Mark Quinn.

It’s 1998 and Quiz has left and he once had said: “I loved playing those years with those guys in this stadium.”

Raul Ibanez. Jason Grimsley. Angel Berroa. Aaron Guiel. Jeremy Affeldt and Runelvys Hernandez. And David Glass and the Glass family too.

The new Royals come and the old Royals go, and almost 20 years go by and lots of good Royals…Very good Royals…just not good teams. And the new Royals come and the old Royals go, and now it is 2003 and…it was ‘We Believe’…and we did…WE believed…BELIEVED…We did! FOR SURE! And it went.

Benito Santiago. Jose Lima and Lima Time! Curtis Leskanic. Rondell White. Doug Mientkiewicz. Joey Gathright. Joakim Soria. Gil Meche, and the salary he left on the table. Matt Stairs from Canada, and young Zack Greinke from Florida. Denny Hocking from the Twins came for a year, and Mark Grudzielanek did too…for a couple.

When will we be good again? When? Please tell me when? NEXT YEAR? Good players…so many of them…the teams not so much…so when, please, why, when? When will we be good again? When, when, when?

Then it’s 2007 and Country Breakfast was a rookie…William Raymond Butler Jr., from Orange Park, Fla., was not even born the last time we were in the World Series…So who is this guy? I hope he can play. Who ARE these guys? I hope they can play. New Royals come and old Royals go. We hire Dayton Moore from Wichita to run the team and then Luke Hochevar was new. Alex Gordon fresh from the University of Nebraska too. Octavio Dotel even played here, and he’s played everywhere. Jose Guillen hit a couple of dingers here, and even Hideo Nomo stopped by. Coco Crisp, Kyle Farnsworth, Willie Bloomquist, and Yuniesky Betancourt too.

And Thank You Art Stewart for all you do, and Thank You Art Stewart for all the boys in blue.

Then in 2010 Greg Holland was new. And Chris Getz from Grosse Pointe, Mich. And Jarrod Dyson from McComb, Miss. too. Then came Francoeur and Escobar; Crow and Hosmer; Duffy and Moose, Giavotella and Herrera. Salvador Johan Pérez Diaz from Valencia, Carabobo in Venezuela and Lorenzo Cain too. I like him. He’s fast! Escobar, Escobar, Escobar…what rhymes with Alcides? I like that name. And then Guthrie, and Big Game James, and Wade Davis out of the pen. When? When? Just please say when!

And now with our old stadium so bright and shiny and shiny and new, it’s like we are ready to host guests…and so we do. The K is so nice and so very, very blue…but Buck O’Neil’s Legacy Seat is red…maybe it is for you. Section 127; Row C; Seat 9.

And then it’s July 2012 and the fountains are blue as our town hosts Major League Baseball’s Midsummer Classic; America’s midsummer dream; The All-Star Game. All the world came to KC and Kauffman Stadium, so beautiful and so blue. All the best came to play. What else can we say. So beautiful, so blue! Welcome to KC! Welcome to KC!!

So now it is 2014 and we are for sure going to be good this year…plus our regulars and our lineup and Ventura and Vargas and Duffy and Finnegan and Frasor and Collins and Kratz and Nix and Willingham and Terrance Gore from Macon, Ga. I like him too. He’s fast!…Inside information says the Royals are going to be good this year, this 2014 year…I know this for sure…THIS IS the year…We are SUPPOSED to be good this year…right? RIGHT!!! We are going to be good! The newest of the new were Aoki and Infante…all along with everyone else and wearing Royal blue…and we ARE good…and then…ohhhh nooooooo…we are not even going to make the playoffs…NOOOOOOOOOOOO! This can’t be…NOOOOOOOOOOOO!…and then we beat the White Sox and the champagne did flow!

We go on!

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It is 2014 and it is Game Seven. Twenty-nine years went by in the blink of an eye and we are here. Here again. Here! Here where we belong. Like the 29 years never happened. HERE! Walking through the parking lot today I feel important. I am taking my mom and my dad and my brother with me to the game today. They are no longer with us. I am taking them with me today.

It is 2014 and it is Game Seven I am taking others too. The new Royals come and the old Royals go and I am taking them all along with me today…to Game Seven…in this 2014…our Paul Splittorff. Our Charlie Lau. The Monarchs’ Buck O’Neil, our John “Buck” O’Neil. Steve Mingori. Joe Burke. Darrell Porter. Our Dan Quisenberry: “I have seen the future, and it is much like the present, only longer.” Ken Brett. Al Cowens. Steve Boros. Nellie Briles. Bob Lemon. And Dick Howser…Everybody’s Dick Howser. Even big and tough Moe Drabowsky. Fred White and Jose Lima and his Lima Time too. And of course Royals First Lady Muriel and her dear Ewing Marion Kauffman.

The good ones never stay long enough, and the so very, very good ones always seem to leave too, too soon. It is all very sad, and we are all very glad that they came and stayed awhile…especially you Mr. Kauffman, especially you! Thank you…Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

Post-mundanely good gestures too many, too many, too much; best to always cherish while we can still touch.

Paul Splittorff paid tribute to Dick Howser in those sad days of 1987 by saying: “He has completed his journey…our skipper is safe at home.” They are all safe at home now, our old Royals, as the old Royals go. We must because we must, we go on. We all go on. As sad as it is, and as sad as it can be, we go on.

I feel important today. I am a Royals fan.

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So now it is January 2015 and it is cold. I am cold. There is snow on the ground and I just stare out my kitchen window and I am waiting for spring time. Just me and Rogers Hornsby: “People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” From the crunch of the snow, and the crust of the leaves, I stare out and wait. I am waiting for the days to be longer, I am waiting for the temperature to be higher, I am waiting for baseball to start. We are all waiting for spring.

It is 2015 and our Royals are going to be good this year again, right? It IS next year already! We are going to be good again this year, right? Please come back 2014, please come back again. Please come back. Please do it again. 1985; please do it again. Please be good, as a team. 1980; please be good again. Please be good. Be as good as a team can be. Please be good 2015, please be good!

This is next year!

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It is Game Seven…and, and, and…No, NOOO! Madison Bumgarner. THAT guy. The Giants’ left-handed pitcher. He already won two games. NO. NO. No don’t put him in…PLEASE don’t put him in…OHHH WAIT…he can not pitch forever, can he? No…no he cannot, no he cannot, he just cannot…That’s okay…we will get him…he can not last forever…we’ll get him!

It’s the fifth inning and INFANTE gets a hit and heeeere we goooooo!!! They are up 3-2 and that’s okay. We got this…We GOT this! GAME SEVEN…This is awesome…We are going to do this!

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It is 2015 and it is next year, and it will happen again right? This will happen again, right? 2014 will happen again, right! So 2014, and the Catsuit Guys, and the dude with Moose antlers, and the fan from Korea seem so very long ago now. And then it’s not. I can still smell the smoke of the barbeques in the parking lot from my walk to my gate, and I can still see Hosmer hugging Moose. 2014 again. Please! Please say it will. I want to be important again, like that…like I was that day. Please.

I feel important today. This is Opening Day. Happy Opening Day! This is 2015.

And now it is 30 years that have gone by in the blink of an eye. This is 2015 already. 2015! This is 2014. This is 1985. This is 1969. This is 1973. This is 2003. This is 1980. This is 2014. This will be 2015! Our 2015!

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It is 2014 Game Seven and there are two outs in the bottom of the ninth and, and, and…40,535 of us, and hundreds of thousands of us, and millions and millions and extra millions of us…Royals fans…all on our feet…and. and, Alex Gordon at the bat.

“Go Alex go, Run Alex run…goooooooooooooooooo!” YES!!! YES!!! Now 1985 is just 90 feet away. YES!!! Here we go!!! HERE WE GO!!! YEEESS!!! “LET’S GO ROYALS…LET’S GO ROYALS…LET’S GO ROYALS…”

We go on.

“Have a good winter,” the nice lady usher says to me as I am the last fan in her section to leave. I am one of the last fans in the stadium to leave. I usually am. I like to just sit and watch and watch and watch. She is not rushing me; she does not want to go either.

“Great season” I say.

“Yes, Great season!” she replies.

“Yes, have a good winter” I say.

I love my Royals. I feel important today.