CHANGE IN THE WEATHER
As my sickness finally began to leave my system after a month (from strep to stomach to cough….you name it). The Royals began to play better…experiencing their first winning road trip of 2010.
Our “retro-stadium tour” began with two quick games in Baltimore. Rain…cold. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. We’d had plenty of it, at home and on the road. Oriole Park at Camden Yards…where I once worked…was its usual beautiful self…just not the weather. Royals split two games.
But when we woke up in downtown Cleveland for another two-game series…skies were bright. Here you see the historic Terminal Tower From the time it opened in 1930 until 1964, it was the tallest building in North America outside New York City. It’s connected to a train station…part of what’s known as Tower City Center. It’s attached to two hotels, a mall, as well as being the hub of Cleveland’s three rapid transit lines.
So for both games in Cleveland it was beautiful. Even more beautiful, the Royals won both games to gain a series sweep, a winning road trip (3-1) and move from last place to third place in one day!
My son John and his proud papa as he graduates from elementary school. My baby is going to middle school! Attention all the people who told me “they grow up fast.” You’re right!
Before a Saturday afternoon game with Colorado the ’85 Royals and ’85 Cardinals played a softball game…2010 being the 25th anniversary. Here Dennis Leonard and Danny Jackson greet their teammates upon their introductions.
Jackson was the pitcher, Jim Sundberg the catcher. And, for the first time maybe ever, former pitcher John Tudor bats leadoff. John Wathan went deep in this game.
Former Royal Willie Aikens did not play in the game. By 1985 he was a Blue Jay, not a Royal. But he was there to cheer on his old teammates. Royals won the game (appropriately enough). Final was 4-1.
Here’s our Micah Lefebvre growth chart. Two months ago we showed you a one-month old Micah. Now Ryan and Sarah’s boy is three months. Like I said…they grow up fast!
We had a great time at the Royals Celebrity golf outing at The National in Parkville. It benefits Royals Charities. I played with three great guys (notice I didn’t say great golfers…haha…ok they were better than me)…Craig Carter, Frank Scimeca and A.J. Mertens.
AN ILL WIND
It was the longest road trip of the year for the Royals, and boy did it feel like it! What started with such promise with a split of four games in St. Petersburg, took a bad turn once the club left Florida.
Like the ballclub, I struggled on the trip. Was sick the previous homestand, and most of the 11-game journey. Happy to say I got over it after a couple of weeks feeling awful.
And while the trip didn’t yield much success on the field, we visited three great places….and I was just healthy enough to snap off a few images….
Downtown St. Petersburg is a nice, laid-back place. As someone who felt like death, I was fortunate that there’s a bench to sit on at almost every downtown corner. I needed the break…
At our hotel on the St. Pete water front, a wedding party makes its way toward the water for more photos of the happy couple and the wedding party. What a beautiful setting!
“Hog Butcher for the World.
Tool Maker. Stacker of Wheat.
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, hulky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders.”
Carl Sandberg
We were blessed with great weather for early spring in Chicago. Such a great place to visit!
Beautiful architecture, beautiful day. I’ll repeat my theory about Chicago: It’s such a great city, that if it weren’t for the brutal winters, there might be 30 million people living there. It’s still huge, but Old Man Winter scares away just enough people to keep it from becoming TOO big.
By the time we got to Texas, I finally was on the mend. After (finally) seeing a doctor my last day in Chicago, I actually felt like a human being by the time we got to Texas! And yes, the weather was perfect! Here my foot makes a cameo. Proof I finally felt better!
Producer/Engineer Don Free had a couple of helpers for the final night game of the trip: grandson Jaxson (almost 2) and granddaughter Jordan (almost 5) keep Don’s already-full hands REALLY full.
A great salute to a true sporting legend, a Texas legend. Byron Nelson was one of the greatest golfers of all time. While we were there, they were preparing the adjacent golf course for the PGA’s Byron Nelson Championship.
Nanook of the North
The Royals first road trip took them to three northern cities: Detroit, Minneapolis and Toronto. In the past I’ve shown all three ballparks from our vantage point: Comerica Park, the Twins former home, the Metrodome, and Rogers Centre.
But in Minnestoa, it’s a whole new world….
This is our view of new Target Field. First outdoor baseball since 1981 in the Twin Cities. Amazing what $545 million will buy these days. Beautiful ballpark.
You see the skyline of Minneapolis down the right field line. The Twins were blessed with perfect weather on their first homestand.
This is Craig Edwards. He’s the meteorologist for Target Field. Haven’t needed one of those in a generation up here.
Royals manager Trey Hillman likes the new digs. He gives reporters his own report on the tour he took of the place.
The stands filling up before the game. They should easily surpass 3 million in the first year of Target Field.
One of many statues honoring the Twins history. In their 50th year….And Target Field salutes…among others…the great Rod Carew.
Here’s Bob with Harmon Killebrew (briefly with the Royals, but a Twins legend and Hall of Famer.) Notice Don Free up top. For 28 years Don could never see a game in the Metrodome. He was blocked by the announcers. That problem has been resolved. He’s been producing/engineering our games since 1986 and now can finally watch the game in Minnesota!!
Anoher Twins legend makes his mark on Target Field….Kent Hrbek…
In their 50th year and in their new ballpark, the Twins break out the old logo and sign. It’s 60 feet high in centerfield. Minnie and Paul shake hands in the Twin Cities once again.
We also traveled to Toronto…where the Hockey Hall of Fame is located just a few blocks from our hotel. It’s tremendous. I mentioned previously, but I “Rip Van Winkled” on hockey for more than 20 years…but I’m back as a fan. It’s a tremendous sport…and no one treasures it more than those in Canada, where the sport was invented.
This is me with Lord Stanley’s “other” Cup. The most famous trophy in sports is the Stanley Cup. There are two of them. This one is on permanent display at the HHOF. The other is on permanent tour and goes to the winning team at the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This is the original Stanley Cup. The whole playoff thing got too big so they needed a bigger, more ornate one.
So many displays of the sports history….including one of many to the great Wayne Gretzky.
This is a mask worn 50 years ago by Montreal goaltender Jacque Plante. He, in 1959, became (believe it or not!!) the first goalie to EVER wear a mask during a hockey game! Coaches thought these things would obstruct the goalies’ view of the puck down at their feet. One night Plante had his lip split open. Between periods they stitched it up….and when he came out for the next period…he wore the same mask he had been wearing in practice. Over his coach’s objections. Fortunately he won the game…and the next 9. And a goalie wouldn’t think about playing without headgear.
SPRING HAS SPRUNG
The opening week of baseball at Kauffman Stadium did not produce as many wins as the fans would have liked…but the fans were happy to welcome the Royals home for Season 42…and Year 2 of the New K.
Opening Day started out a little gloomy….but the skies would clear and the sun would shine!
Before the game a real treat. Former Royals Manager Whitey Herzog stops by the booth for a visit. Whitey, already in the Royals Hall of Fame, will be inducted in Cooperstown in July. The former skipper threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Here he visits with Bob and Denny.
The crowd lets out an extra cheer on Opening Day as last years player of the year, Billy Butler, is introduced. Billy had a two-run single on Opening Day. Unfortunately it was not enough, as Detroit came from behind to win.
On the first Friday night game of 2010, the Royals honored Zack Greinke for his 2009 Cy Young Award. His teammates, Royals alumni and his family all took part in the pregame celebration. Ryan was the emcee.
Later that Friday night, Joakim Soria took the mound in the 9th against the Red Sox. He recorded a scoreless frame and his first save of the season.
My first sign of spring was seeing my 11-year-old son John’s baseball practice. The Smash Burger Heat play in the Blue Valley Recreation League. John’s always been a strike thrower. My favorite player. At any level.
A FEW SURPRISES IN SURPRISE
Spring Training is always a time of hope, a time to be optimistic. How will this year go for the Royals? Hard to say. It will be an adventure we’ll all experience together. But 2010 began with another solid spring of hard work by the players and staff.
Here’s a taste of some of the things that were happening on the field and off the field (and largely off the field) as the Royals prepared for the regular season.
Arizona was a great host as always. I had the pleasure of having a total of 15 relatives visit Surprise and the surrounding area. Some made the trip to the Grand Canyon. Here I am with my cousin John McGinty. My son John is on the lower left, my nephew Charlie is lower right.
I think you know these guys. George Brett and Frank White play catch as each will throw a round of batting practice as they do so often during Spring Training. Once again the Royals utilized alumni on the field. John Mayberry, Dennis Leonard, John Wathan and Willie Wilson are among those who also sported Royal Blue this Spring.
Over my first three years with the Royals, I’ve spent a total of more than three months in the Valley of the Sun. On the first Sunday of Cactus League games I saw a tarp on a baseball field…and rain…for the first time. The game originally scheduled for March 7th with the Giants was made up a few weeks later.
Rain may be an unfamiliar site, but this is not. Manager Trey Hillman meets with the media at least twice each day. Here he answers questions from Bob Fescoe, Dick Kaegel, Robert Ford and Bob Dutton. This was before the Royals last game at historic Hi Corbett Field, the spring home of the Colorado Rockies (and before that the Cleveland Indians. Spring Training for the film “Major League” was filmed here). The Rockies and Diamondbacks are vacating Tucson and will henceforth train in the Phoenix area.
Here’s the Royals Rookie of the Year! Micah James Lefebvre. Born only weeks before, he made his first visit to Spring Training in late March. Hey Micah…baseball’s an exciting sport!! Really…you’ll see!!
Proud papa and mama Ryan and Sarah. Mom reports Micah was a great traveller on his maiden voyage, from KCI to Phoenix.
As Royals team photographer Chris Vleisides and receptionist Lisa Hemly check on a computer issue, you see the new addition to the wall in the lobby of the Royals Surprise offices. A giant version of the Kansas City Star salute to the 2009 Cy Young Award winner, Zack Greinke. Lisa, by the way, did an amazing job singing the National Anthem before one of the Royals games.
Eat your heart out cold hockey cities! Hockey may not be the first thing you think of when you see palm trees, but inside this building it’s very cold! And very loud!
The Phoenix Coyotes have had a great season after almost moving out of town last summer. I was a huge hockey fan growing up…before I “Rip Van Winkled” on it for oh….about 28 years…but I’ve rediscovered it the last couple of seasons. This was a sellout and a shootout victory in March.
My son the Coyote. John saw his first NHL game…along with several Royals games…on his Spring Break.
The Royals prepare for their final game in Tucson. As previously noted, the D-backs and Rockies will leave Tucson behind (no more 2 and a half hour drives. I’ve made the trip 7 times the past three springs). They’ll be in a more convenient spot. But Tucson is a good town with a long history as a spring training city.
We drive by Picacho Peak State Park one last time. When you go to Tucson for a game from Surprise it makes for about a 12 hour day. Our boss, Mike Swanson, spent 14 Springs in Tucson, in his days with the Diamondbacks, and before that, the Rockies. That’s a lot of long drives…
Don Free drives us home from Tucson one final time. Beginning next year no “road” trip should last more than an hour or so. Most are 30 minutes or less. The convenience of the Cactus League is amazing.
THE HOUSE THAT GEORGE BUILT
The last week of the season the Royals finally visited New Yankee Stadium for the first time. At a cost of 1.5 billion dollars, it’s an attention-getter. Last year I gave you one last look at the old place.
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During batting practice the skies were getting dark. Here Ryan Lefebvre and Fox Sports Kansas City producer Kevin Shank catch up with former Royals Manager Tony Pena, now the Yankees bench coach. Notice the big HD screen in center. It’s big, but not quite as big as CrownVision at New Kauffman Stadium.
Great sightlines, wider concourses, a wide variety of cuisines, all the modern amenities. Better be nice, for a billion and a half!
This is the signature image of the new park, the Great Hall. Here people enter in grand style, where giant banners honor of Yankee greats. Very impressive.
There’s a Yankee Museum in the new stadium. Here fans learn about the man who got it all started, the Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth.
You may have heard the most expensive seats cost 2500 dollars behind homeplate. Well, that price didn’t go over very well. They slashed prices in half, to a still-exorbitant 1250 dollars a seat. You do get to eat in this beautiful club located behind home plate for all that coin. And of course servers bring whatever you want to your seat.
Yankees Manager Joe Girardi meeting with the media before a game. Most Major League managers draw between 5 and 10 reporters for most pregame news conferences. With the Yankees, it’s as though every day is the World Series. Just the way George likes it.
EMOTIONAL NIGHT
While the Royals were in Detroit, we were lucky enough to be on hand when legendary, longtime Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell came to the ballpark to say “thank you” and, sadly, “so long…”
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Ernie is 91 and was recently diagnosed with inoperable cancer. He visited the Ernie Harwell press box. Here flanked by, among many others, current Tigers broadcaster Dan Dickerson on the left and team President Dave Dombrowski on the right. Ernie looks great and was in great spirits.
A Detroit Free Press photographer captured Ernie leaving our radio booth after he came in to greet us. The nicest man you could ever meet. He gave Don a big hug. That’s Don on the left.
In the middle of the third inning he addressed the crowd. He was in full voice, no notes. He was probably the only one without a tear in his eye. Ernie…we all love you…(speaking for baseball fans everywhere….not just in Detroit).
MOVING RIGHT ALONG…
If the game is moving slowly, there is one proven method to make it speed up: give George Brett a microphone! George recently joined Denny and Bob to promote Royals Fantasy Camp next February. The game had been played at a leisurely pace until the 4th. That’s when Number 5 sat down. Total pitches needed for a pair of 1-2-3 innings? 20. For six outs. Every time he stops by, it seems, his visit is cut short by quick innings. I couldn’t get Bob to smile, he was busy working.
THE BLUEST SKIES
On one of our broadcasts in Seattle, Bob made a reference to a song Perry Como performed many years ago, “The Bluest Skies You’ve Ever Seen Are In Seattle.”
Hard to argue. In four days there, we had a couple of brilliantly clear days…and the retractable roof was open for three of the four games. Sure beats last year.
Safeco Field is celebrating its 10th anniversary as one of the most beautiful of the retro ballparks built since Camden Yards opened. Sure beats the dear, departed Kingdome.
Joining Bob, Don Free and me was Royals fan Kevin Koopman (lower left). He made the three and a half hour flight from Anchorage to see the Royals. He saw Zack’s one-hitter. Kevin grew up in Freemont, Nebraska and is a lifelong Royals fan.
Looking back at part of downtown Seattle from the pier. Breathtaking. Of course the flip side are the dreary winter days (and spring…and fall…and occasionally summer). But when it’s not cloudy, not many places in America are more beautiful.
At the bottom of the hill near Pier 66…is Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market. It’s more than 100 years old.
It’s always crowded inside the market. On rainy days it helps that it’s covered!
This is the famous Pike Place Fish stand…where the employees throw fish. Just my luck, no throwing fish while I was standing there. You know what they say…people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw fish….not sure who “they” are…but seriously…
One more shot of the water from the pier. Water, mountains, blue skies. Nice place to visit…especially with weather like this!
BODY DOUBLE
Tigers skipper Jim Leyland has been a Major League manager for many years…but did you know there are two Jim Leylands?
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Actually there is only one. But as you can see in the photos above, a Comerica Park security man is a dead ringer for the Detroit skipper. On the left, Jim Leyland visits with Royals Bench Coach John Gibbons and Manager Trey Hillman. On the right is John (didn’t get his last name). He has the same glasses and mustache. Apparently the “Leyland look” is all the rage in the Motor City.
Here’s proof that Jim and John are not the same person. Leyland leans over the railing, talking with Dave Owen and Gibbons (below with catchers mitt). You can see security man John standing watch behind the railing to the right.
So we salute John. No, he doesn’t have a multi-million dollar contract like his lookalike Jim Leyland. But he could prove valuable to the home team. Next time Leyland gets thrown out of a game, perhaps John would lend Leyland his shorts. The Tiger skipper could stay in the game, incognito. And his disguise would be a LOT more convincing than Bobby Valentine’s was years ago…
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