We were traveling through southern Missouri last week. Interesting country. Super nice people. Loved the scenery.
On Highway 160, we drove past what appeared to be an old salvage yard, and on the chain-link fence was a sign that said:
Business closed
Do not enter
Dog will bite
I loved the simplicity of that sign. “Dog will bite” was a nice touch. I immediately thought about the 2026 Royals. If you think fans are not bought into their favorite team, think again.
What does that sign have to do with the current edition of the Royals?
For one, they are a bit of a salvage yard. Every offseason, the front office convinces itself that it can resurrect the careers of aging players on the downslope of the game. It rarely works out. I can think of a few in the past. Raul Ibanez worked out nicely. Same with Jeff Francoeur. They squeezed a few games out of Jose Lima. The problem is those guys last played here well over a decade ago. The Royals have a handful of those guys clogging up the roster.
Second, business does appear to be closed. This season has been a dumpster fire since Opening Day. Here we are, in the first week of June, and any playoff hopes we had before the season have long been vanquished. You’d think some heads would roll, but you’d be wrong about that. Ladies and gentlemen, this business appears to be closed.
Forget for a moment that they’re a terrible hitting team. Forget for another moment that their bullpen starts more fires than an arsonist. They run the bases worse than some of the 12-year-olds I’ve coached, and occasionally, they forget how to field the ball.
Say what you will, but they’re consistent.
The general manager who assembled this ill-fitting puzzle remains. So do the manager and coaches. And the scouting department. The hitting and pitching coaches seem to have lifetime employment. I’m exasperated. Are you exasperated?
I’m not sure if the team’s lack of performance will eventually affect attendance. Do not enter.
Will the dog bite? Doesn’t look like it. The Royals’ top dogs appear to be napping. GMJJ isn’t biting anyone. His comments to the media have taken on a surreal Baghdad Bob quality:
“I have a lot of confidence in our staff. There’s not a lot of strong data on changing coaching staffs midseason leading to what you need to do. It appeases the fan base because you’ve made a change, but we have to be logical in our thinking.”
Really? Are we even watching the same team? I write this when the Royals are mired in a brutal losing streak. Naturally, as the baseball Gods would have it, the story runs while the Royals are on a mini-heater.
Owner John Sherman could clean house, and perhaps he’s thinking about it. The losing has to be grating on him. He’s a Kansas City guy and a baseball fan. I can’t imagine that he’s happy with what he’s seen. So far, he’s not biting anyone yet, either.
I like Sherman. It’s fashionable right now to hate on wealthy people, but envy and jealousy are ugly emotions. Sherman and his wife are active in the metro community, and that’s admirable. I can remember a time after Ewing Kauffman’s death when we couldn’t find a local with enough money to buy the team. Sherman is a Kansas City guy, he has the wealth to own the team long term, and I don’t question his love for the Royals. We may disagree with his approach, but I’m glad we have him.
He takes some arrows for not spending enough on talent, but look at the Mets. Their owner has spent a pile, and where are they? As of this writing, the Mets are 29-36. Do you think their fans are happy?
If Sherman were to clean house, who would they hire as replacements? I have no idea. Even worse, do you trust the Royals’ decision-makers enough to believe they won’t screw it up worse?
Quick quiz: Who is the best GM the Royals have ever had? That would be Cedric Tallis, whose tenure ran from 1968 to 1974.
Who was their best manager? This is debatable. Many will say Ned Yost. He did win a World Series, but over his 16-year managerial career, he was just a .477 manager. My vote goes to Whitey Herzog, but Bob Lemon deserves some consideration.
Who was their worst manager? Take your pick; there are six or seven strong candidates.
Two years ago, I would have advocated for Terry Francona, but the Reds snapped him up. Prior to the season, I made a vow to myself that I wasn’t going to get emotionally involved with this team and was just going to enjoy the summer, win or lose. Easier said than done.
This road trip eventually led us to Kansas City. We went to the Arabia Steamboat Museum and loved every bit of it. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend making a stop. Kansas City has some terrific museums, and this one is as good as any in the metro area. The staff is top-notch.
On the drive to the museum, I got a chance to look over the future home of Royals Stadium. It’s hard to imagine all that concrete and metal somehow fitting into that space, but they’ll make it happen, and it’ll be terrific when it’s done.
I will miss Royals/Kauffman Stadium. Most of us will. It’s a special place, a place where many of us attended our first games. We’ve had our share of heartbreak, and there have been some fun times. The stadium itself is still beautiful, one of the best in the game, but it is in its 54th year of service, which is longer than Municipal Stadium stood. It’s funny, the memories we carry with a stadium.
I love driving east on I-70 and coming around the hill and catching sight of the stadium. It always takes my breath away for a few seconds.
In my mind’s eye, I still see Amos Otis running down fly balls. I see George Brett lacing a ball into the right-center gap and hustling out a triple. I see Hal McRae stroking the longest home run I’ve ever seen. I still see a ragtag group of Royals in 2009 mounting a rally through a rainstorm and overcoming an early Red Sox lead while drenched KC fans went wild and their equally drenched Red Sox brethren sat quietly, absorbing the loss.
Many of our older fans feel the same about Municipal. Every time I’m in the city, I drive to 22nd and Brooklyn. I can see Cookie Rojas and Freddie Patek turning two. I see Otis Taylor slugging Ben Davidson. I see Garo Yepremian kicking that field goal.
Someday, we’ll drive to I-70 and Blue Ridge Cutoff and see the memories.
About the new ballpark, the thing that concerned me during my drive to the Arabia was this: How is the team planning to move 20,000 to 30,000 fans in and out of the area 81 times a year?
Midwesterners are well known for their love of automobiles and driving to every event, especially those of us from out of town. We’re spoiled by Kauffman. Relatively easy access off I-70 and 435 into a series of enormous parking lots. Short walk to the gate. Piece of cake.
Local political leaders and Royals brass are working overtime trying to convince us that the light rail is the answer. Uh-huh.
About that rail. I’ve ridden a few in my life. Boston. Chicago. Denver. San Diego. One thing those rail systems have in common is that the line runs with minimal interference from traffic, and vice versa.
Not so with the KC rail line.
Driving north on Main, traffic and rail share the same lane for long stretches. How is that going to work on game day, when the streets are plugged with cars and SUVs looking for a parking garage? I can see impatient rail riders stranded behind a long line of slow-moving vehicles.
The KC rail seemed to function like a metro bus, stopping every few blocks to pick up or disgorge riders. The rail systems in other cities move people, rolling at least half a mile between stops. When their train stops close to where you want to be, you get out and walk the remaining distance.
San Diego’s, which to me is the gold standard of rail, stops directly outside of Petco Park and will disgorge hundreds of riders at a time. The stops are short and efficient. Traffic continues to move on either side of the rail line.
We rode the train into downtown Denver for a game a few summers ago. Coming in was relatively easy. Leaving after the game was a nightmare. Too many riders, not enough train. After that fiasco, I vowed never again. Next time, I drove in, paid to park in a lot, and walked a few blocks to the stadium.
Every train I saw in Kansas City only had three cars. You’re not moving tens of thousands of people efficiently with three-car trains. Most of the trains in San Diego pull eight to ten cars. They arrive on track that is separated from street traffic. Where they do cross the street, a guardrail drops, blocking vehicle and pedestrian traffic so the train can speed away.
Maybe there are places in Kansas City that have this safety feature. I didn’t see any.
Rail approaching the new ballpark from the south appears to have a cleaner shot. From Crown Center north, whew. That’s some ugly city planning. I can see that, short of tearing down a lot of buildings, there wasn’t much space to work with. Maybe an elevated line like Chicago uses would have been a better choice?
Regardless, it appears that the city has a ton of infrastructure work in front of it before this thing opens. Who knows? Maybe it’ll work like a Swiss watch. I have some serious doubts.
As with anything, time will tell. There will certainly be things about the new ballpark that we will grow to love. There will also be things that we curse to high heaven. Putting together a team that wins consistently will cure most of those travel and parking concerns.
COVERS INTEL:
Bryce Harper
Ezequiel Tovar