You’ve got to give the Kansas City Royals credit: Just when frustrated fans were gathering for an attack on the bastion at One Royal Way (Kauffman Stadium), the team made the boldest, most awe-inspiring move in its history by persuading George Brett to take up a place in the team’s dugout.
As soon as I heard the news on sports-talk radio yesterday, I excitedly pulled out my cell phone and called my wife Patty. Of course, being a working woman who is supporting me in retirement and blogging, she didn’t pick up. That dulled my excitement just a touch.
But the prospect of the greatest Royal of all time — ever loquacious and ever pumped up — putting down his golf clubs, grabbing his chewing tobacco and heading to the clubhouse was absolutely thrilling to me. I was there (at least I think I was) the August night in 1980 when Brett stood on second base, having just reached the .400 hitting plateau — arms raised, helmet in hand, basking in the standing ovation being extended by enthralled fans at Kauffman Stadium.
I was watching on TV when he came up to bat — the most memorable Royals at-bat of all time, in my opinion — against the Yankees’ flame-throwing reliever Goose Gossage in the 1980 American League playoffs and, unbelievably, smashed a home run to right field on a high, inside fastball that was traveling about 1,000 miles an hour.
So, when I heard that George was returning to the dugout, it was clear that this was something really special, something that could make all fans feel good again, even though the team had lost eight straight games and 19 of its last 23 going into last night’s game against the Cardinals in St. Louis.
…Allow me to digress her for just a moment. I hate the Cardinals and I don’t much like St. Louis because of the Cardinals. When I was growing up in Louisville, KY, they almost always beat my beloved (at the time) Cincinnati Reds, since moving to Kansas City in 1969, I’ve had to watch our cross-state rivals win pennants and world championships several times, while we wallowed in the post-1985 ineptitude and frustration of our Royals. I console myself by saying it’s easy to be a Cardinals fan, but it makes you tough being a Royals fan. We have true grit!
***
The lead-up to last night’s (and this morning’s) game was fascinating and fixating.
At a press conference, Brett explained why he decided to accept the challenge now of becoming the Royals interim hitting coach:
“This thing has been offered to me before, but my kids were young. I had three young boys. I retired from baseball. Right now, I have two kids in college, and one is a senior in high school. I’m not missing them growing up any more. It’s summer time, and it’s time for me to go to work.”
Summer and baseball called…and he answered. How can you resist a guy that thinks like that?
Brett with Alex Gordon before thursday night’s game
Later in the afternoon, there he was standing beside Billy Butler outside the cage at batting practice; there he was joyfully and playfully embracing every Royal he happened across as the team went through warm-ups; and, finally, just before the game, there he was in the dugout, chewing that cud and wearing a look of steely determination.
He still looks every bit the part of a baseball player, just worn and weathered at age 60, but rugged and intent. Did I mention that look in the eyes? “Get outta my way,” it screams, “because I’m comin’ through you if you don’t!”
Fast forward to the top of the ninth inning…Royals down 2 to 1; Cardinals apparently pretty sure the Royals don’t have a win in them. So sure that they send out a relief pitcher with an earned run average of more than 10 runs per nine innings. But the Cardinals must have forgotten that George Brett was in the dugout and they must not have paid any attention to the fact that Brett had spent a lot of time during the game talking to right fielder Jeff Francoeur, a clubhouse leader but who has been keenly disappointing at the plate the last two years.
On the second pitch, Francoeur drilled a ball deep to left — gone! a few feet over the wall, enough to tie the game.
A camera homed in on Brett, who was standing at the top of the dugout, holding onto the protective netting. You could read his lips. “YES!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, neck muscles bulging and that protruding in his cheek.
As most everyone in KC now knows, the Royals went on to win the game 4-2 after a long rain delay. The game ended at 3:14 a.m.
They long wait didn’t bother the Royals at all. They were on Cloud 9.
“There’s not a person in here who cares that it’s 3:30 in the morning,” Francouer said in the locker room. “It feels like 10 o’clock for us.”
And as far as we fans were concerned, Brett was back, the Royals had won, and summer lay ahead in Kansas City.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Amen!!!!
Now the next move is to get Freddie and Buck to return. Then we will have the Royals of old. Haven’t been following the Royals lately…kinda hard to get the games in Ecuador. But I am going to watch the box scores and expect a climb up the ladder. Enjoyed your blog. I could sense feel your enthusiasm .
Oh dear sweet Fitz, really? This move is more cosmetic than Craig Glazer’s hair. It’s the equivalent of delivering pizza to the Twin Towers on 9/11 so the occupants can have something to eat before leaping to their deaths.
All due respect to George but the REAL story is how he and his brother got caught up in some voodoo bracelet or necklace business and got sued. Jewelry, endorsed by George, “allegedly,” was a cure for all types of ailments, maladies and then some.
After reading about that, I substantially downgraded George in my book to low-life scumbag. So he should feel at home getting closer on a daily basis to “Walking Dead” Ned Yost.
I lived in Spokane, WA, a couple of the years the Indians were affiliated with the Royals. That included ’99, when they won everything worth winning.
For work -not that freelance writing didn’t pay…just not sufficiently- I ran a kitchen in a downtown Irish (by night) bucket of blood that George (and often Bobby) would frequent. In fact I’m pleased to say they would always drop in -if in town- on the days I offered clam chowder.
Nice guy; unfailingly polite. Hell, I must have a dozen autographed Brett baseballs around the house. And that doesn’t count the ones I would gift to extended family members. Having met the man, you can see where he might be an inspirational coach, if for no other reason than the “young” guys will probably bust a nut trying to reach anywhere near his fabled standards.
That said…I was done with the Royals back in ’94 when they fired Hal McRae for being black. And nothing the organization has done since convinces me I should ‘support’ them.
In fact, I’d rather we moved the Indians to KC and move the Royals to Spokane…
Let me clarify for casual readers…Notb is talking about the minor league Spokane Indians. (They’re obviously still close to his heart.)
..But, Will, you say the Royals fired McRae for “being black.” Why, then, did they hire him?
At any rate, this is not an organization bad enough to give up on…David Glass is an absentee owner, and he might be a bit cheap when it comes to payroll, but he certainly seems like a decent person. Clearly, he’s an excellent businessman. Everybody complains about Wal-Mart, but everybody loves their prices.
jimmy –
addressing your thoughts in reverse order:
what have the Royals done since ’94 [ the last year they i.) had noteworthy talent, ii.) were well coached, and iii.) were serious contenders ] for your heart to deny how bad the organization really is? seriously, that’s nearly 20 years of inadequate to miserable play, highlighted by mediocre to bathetic trades.
As for glass, well – your observation of wal-mart’s ubiquity is well taken, for all that I haven’t stepped foot in one in well over 30 years. but the obvious extension that he runs the royals the wal-mart way is –to my mind- exactly what’s wrong with the organization.
your claim brings to mind posnanski’s annual fact-free paean to the moribund team…
as to why the royals hired hal in the first place, there were at least a couple of factors, to include his obvious talents. but you also have to remember the times and campanis’ infamous interview; indeed, there is good reason to believe hal was hired in part because he was black.
but that pre-glass, was it?
glass came later and one of the first things he did was sack hal, not long after hal went ballistic with a bunch of reporters. word leaked out of the front office that glass was incensed that his black manager would talk that way to white reporters. so he went out and got a comatose lapdog.
boone – remember that genius? who did everything the front office asked and made no waves?
and while I’m here…glass did more than that: he ended the season during the strike year, mostly due to his refusal to negotiate with the players’ union; he was all for ‘scabs’ and every other cost cutting measure. one could look upon that as frugalness…if one omits the court ruling MLB owners violated federal labor laws.
arguably glass stuffed the royals into a cellar they will never escape while under his ownership.
which explains the fact that, like wal-mart, I’ve not been to royals stadium in nearly 20 years now.
’cause you get exactly what you pay for.
George will help, but will not be in the dugout long…
Oh My God Fitz! I’ll pay for the rehab. David Glass operates the Royals like a NASCAR team whose biggest concern is gas mileage. No one questions his retail business acumen. In that arena he is legendary in the work he did in developing WalMarts Retail Link Program.
As a baseball owner he is also a legend as one of the worst owners in baseball. He does not have the desire and passion to field a championship team that Ewing Kauffman did. He is the exact opposite of Mr. K. His son, Dan “bong hit” Glass will be an even bigger disgrace should he take over the team when daddy goes to the big checkout stand in the sky. Although, while David runs the team on an Excel spreadsheet, Dan might try to do it with PowerPoint.
For great prices I’ll go to WalMart. For great baseball…..hell, for mediocre baseball the Royals aren’t even a consideration.
Great stuff Fitz. Smarty is not wrong often, but lets hope he is this time.
One more thing, I too was watching that at bat with Brett V Gossage and what I remember as much as anything, was the silence, the absolute silence from Al Michaels and Howard Cosell after Brett hit the dinger.
That, was, as far as I know, the ONLY time Howard Cosell was at a loss for words. By the way, the camera went to Al and Howard in the booth and they were both sporting something I have seen a few times, a thousand yard stare.
Fuckin sweet indeed, sweet indeed.
:)
I was stupefied, too, Chuck…I couldn’t believe how fast he got the bat head around on that fastball. And the ball just rocketed off the bat. There was never any question that it would stay in the park.
I grew up with the Royals of the 70s and 80s. Loved Brett on the field, thought he was an a@@ off of it. Many a story could be told in this town of his buffoonish behavior–however, I would also say that marriage and kids matured him. Or at least it appears that way. Other than the PR job he was handed at retirement I never knew what he did to earn a salary for the last 20 years. I’m glad he continues to invest his name in the Royals. I wish Frank White would have been given the same consideration and met with the same enthusiasm by the public.