The Chiefs. “Now don’t be sad, ‘cause two out three ain’t bad” (as sung by Meat Loaf; more in Lonnie’s Jukebox below).
Politics. Yikes! But…
Bill Veeck: “The true harbinger of spring is not the crocuses or the swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of the bat on the ball.”
Kansas City NFL/MLB February Sports Calendar:
February 9 – Super Bowl.
February 10 and 11 – The only two days in 2025 with no Kansas City NFL or MLB activity.
February 12 – Royals pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
February 17 – Royals position players report to spring training.
February 21 – First Royals spring training game.
From Dan Quisenberry’s poem “Spring Training Dream”:
“rituals of spring training
running of sprints
a gaggle of grown men laughing at sore muscles
omnipresence of coaches, general managers, fans, scouts
spring’s annual judge of talent
if I close my eyes and listen
I hear the pop of ball hitting bat
ball smothered in soft leather
and even the whoosh of ball
spinning with raised seams cutting through air”
2025 Royals Roster: Following their 86-win season, the Royals have made some moves to stay in contention. They re-signed starters Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen who were eligible for free agency. The bullpen was bolstered by signing free agent Carlos Estevez. A trade for second baseman Jonathan India brought in a much-needed leadoff hitter. And they just signed pitching ace Cole Ragans to a 3-year contract..
But…no new hard-hitting corner outfielder. The Royals tried, notably a strong effort for Anthony Santander, but were outbid by other teams. Unless there is a surprise, the team will need to hope for better years from Hunter Renfroe (often injured last year, the first of a 2-year free agent contract) and MJ Melendez (a negative WAR last season). There is some buzz about MJ working on changing his stance and bat position (see photos below). I’ve always thought his footwork looked off-balance, so maybe these adjustments will help.
In Joe Posnanski’s pre-season assessment of MLB teams, he had this to say about the Royals: “The aggressiveness the Royals have displayed under general manager J.J. Picollo the last couple of years is not only admirable…it’s bloody rare. When you look around the game and see how many small- to mid-level teams are too timid, too cheap or too conservative to at least TRY to get better, you realize the Royals are rowing against the tide here…and they might keep winning, they might fall back, but there will be no regrets.”
2025 – New Season, New Slogan: Get ready for the “Fountains Up” season of the Royals. Check out the 15 second video here.
Hall of Fame 2025: Five players were recently voted into the Hall of Fame. The Classic Baseball Era Committee selected sluggers Dave Parker and Dick Allen, and the sportswriters selected starting pitcher CC Sabathia (251 wins, 3093 strikeouts), reliever Billy Wagner (422 saves) and Japanese legend Ichiro Suzuki (3089 hits, 509 SB). The induction ceremony will be in July.
The major Kansas City story involving the 2025 inductees was referenced in this post by Mayor Quinton Lucas:
Suzuki got all but one vote from the writers (393 of 394), tying him with Derek Jeter who missed unanimity by one vote in 2021. The only unanimous choice in Hall of Fame history is Mariano Rivera (2019). Suzuki is the first Asian-born player in the Hall of Fame. In his 19-year MLB career, he played for Seattle, Miami and the Yankees. Not the Royals.
So, where does Kansas City fit in with Suzuki? And why the month of August as suggested by Mayor Q?
In a 2007 interview with Bob Costas, Suzuki was asked to state his favorite American expression. He had been doing most of the interview through an interpreter but waived him off, and with a sly grin (photo below), gave his answer in English: “August in Kansas City is hotter than two rats in a f__king wool sock.” Video here. Suzuki likely meant “two rats f__king in a wool sock” and that’s how the story is often told. Either way, a Hall of Fame line.
Hall of Fame (Not Yet) – Carlos Beltran: This was the third year on the Hall of Fame ballot for Carlos Beltran. He was named on 70.3% of the ballots and is inching up to the required 75%. He would have already been selected if he had not been implicated in the Astros sign-stealing scandal. There is no question that he has the numbers of a Hall of Famer, including a fine blend of power and speed (435 homers, 312 stolen bases). For perspective, the WAR for the three hitters to be enshrined this year: Suzuki (60.0), Allen (58.7) and Parker (40.1). Beltran is 70.1!
Carlos will hopefully get the votes next year. His 20-year MLB career started with the Royals where he was AL Rookie of the Year in 1999. He played here for seven years and went on the play for six other teams. His longest tenure outside of KC was with the Mets where he also played seven seasons. I don’t know what team cap Beltran will be wearing on his Hall of Fame plaque, but Kansas City will be a major part of his history.
When Beltran was playing for the Mets, Rita and I saw him at Shea Stadium in 2007. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but Beltran is the player in the on-deck circle behind Rita’s hat. The hat caught the attention of the Kiss Cam cameraman, and we ended up on the scoreboard screen.
Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson (RIP): He was born Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson (after Ricky Nelson of Ozzie and Harriett). He died this past December at the young age of 65.
Greatest leadoff hitter? Yes, by far. He led off 81 games with a homer (second place George Springer, 60). Stole 1,406 bases (second place Lou Brock, 938). Scored 2,295 runs (second place Ty Cobb, 2,245). Ricky also had 3,055 hits. He is #24 (also his uniform number) in The Baseball 100, Joe Posnanski’s countdown of the best MLB players of all time. RIP to one of the best.
Hall of Famer Bob Uecker (RIP): Bob Uecker died last month at the age of 90. I got an email from Martin Frost saying he was going to honor Uecker by rewatching the 1989 movie Major League. Rita and I liked that idea and did the same. Uecker played broadcaster Harry Doyle in the movie (click here for the trailer; Doyle is in the first scene). Uecker had plenty of experience as a real broadcaster – 54 years with the Milwaukee Brewers (1971-2024).
Uecker played six years in the majors as a good-field/no-hit catcher. He led the league in passed balls in 1967 because he was the catcher of choice for knuckleballer Phil Niekro. He said the best way to catch a knuckleball was to wait until it stops rolling and pick it up.
Uecker’s humor is legendary. When he was inducted into the broadcasting wing of the Hall of Fame, he quipped, “I still, and this is not sour grapes, still think I should have gone in as a player.” His career WAR was -1.0.
Uecker became well known in the ‘70s and ‘80s for his Miller Lite ads, especially the one where he is relegated to the cheap seats in the upper deck (click here). In 2014, the Brewers installed a permanent seat for Uecker on the last row of the upper deck. There is an extra seat next to his statue for photos like this one of me and Bob (taken in 2019 when Rita and I attended a Brewers game). RIP to one of the funniest.
Truman Library – Nostalgia Politics: To escape reading too much about current politics, I’m embracing some nostalgia politics with the help of the Truman Library.
Last summer, the library brought in author Doris Kearns Goodwin who Rita and I have seen speak several times over the years. We are big fans and so were pleased to get a photo with her at the event.
Goodwin has written several books about “my guys”: Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. She has also written one of my favorite baseball books (Wait Till Next Year) about her beloved 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.
Her newest book, An Unfinished Love Story, is a personal history of the turbulent 1960s told through the eyes of her late husband Richard Goodwin, a close advisor and speechwriter for JFK, LBJ and RFK. Rita has finished the book (loved it). So has her book club (loved it). I am about halfway through (loving it).
Next up for the Truman Library is Meryl Gordon, author of The Woman Who Knew Everyone: The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington’s Most Famous Hostess. Gordon will be speaking in Kansas City at the Unity Temple on the Plaza on March 4. It’s free and open to the public, but registration is required (click here).
Perle Mesta was a regular at the White House for four decades and was close to Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson. She held world-class parties and was so famous she inspired a hit play and movie about her life (Call Me Madam starring Ethel Merman). As a fund raiser, she helped save Harry Truman’s 1948 campaign (he then named her an envoy to Luxembourg). She was an early advocate of the ERA and a civil rights supporter who helped integrate Truman’s 1949 inaugural festivities.
Personal Note: Meryl Gordon’s late husband was Walter Shapiro who I wrote about in Hot Stove #267. Rita and I met Walter the week before the 2000 Bush/Gore election. Walter was in Kansas City visiting his and Meryl’s good friend, Congresswoman Karen McCarthy. He was a baseball fan, and he and I kept in touch. When Hot Stove launched in 2015, Walter was an inaugural subscriber. For various national news publications, he covered every presidential campaign since Reagan/Carter in 1980. Walter’s coverage of the 2024 campaign was cut short when he died in July at the age of 77.
Carnahan Award – Gerard Grimaldi: Last week, Gerard Grimaldi received the prestigious Mel and Jean Carnahan Public Service Award for 2025.
I can’t think of anyone more deserving. I met Gerard in 1980 when he joined the Kansas City staff of Senator Tom Eagleton. In 1984, he became the head of Congressman Alan Wheat’s KC office where he served for ten years. He was ubiquitous in the community on behalf of Eagleton and Wheat. Hard working, smart, engaging, and oh what a laugh.
Gerard moved to the private sector for a few years but returned to public service in 2001 to become Chief of Health Policy and Government Relations for University Hospital/Truman Medical Center. In that capacity, he works to assure University Health meets it mission of providing accessible, state-of-the-art, quality healthcare to the Kansas City community regardless of one’s ability to pay. Everyone in the industry will tell you Gerard is good at this job.
Gerard has a Harry Truman quote posted in his office, “A great and free nation should bring good health care within the reach of all its people.” Gerard is passionate about this principle, and in his remarks accepting his award said, “It is imperative that, now more than ever, to remind policy makers of the need for health care access and equity.” He also gave this reminder: “Public service is honorable and noble. Recent events compel me to repeat it. Public service (along with civil service) is honorable and noble.”
Amen. Thank you, Gerard.
Lonnie’s Jukebox – Meat Loaf Sports Edition: When the Chiefs failed in their bid for a three-peat in the Super Bowl, Rita recalled the old Meat Loaf refrain, “Now don’t be sad, ‘cause two out three ain’t bad.” And in a league structured to be competitive (sharing of TV revenue and a salary cap), two wins out of three consecutive Super Bowls not only ain’t bad, it’s also downright rare and wonderful. And nine straight AFC West titles ain’t bad. And seven straight trips to the AFC finals ain’t bad. And five Super Bowls in six years ain’t bad. Sing it Meat Loaf…
“Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” by Meat Loaf (1977). The song was one of the cuts on Meat Loaf’s blockbuster 1977 album Bat Out of Hell. For tangible albums recorded back in the days before streaming, Bat Out of Hell is in the top ten of worldwide sales, up there with the likes of Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, Hotel California by the Eagles and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Good company.
Moving on from football to baseball, I’m going to another cut from the album. This song has made prior appearances in Lonnie’s Jukebox, but it always makes for a great encore.
The song involves a couple who are “barely 17 and barely dressed.” The dashboard light comes from the car radio that is tuned to a baseball game. The big question is whether the boy (Meat Loaf singing) will get to second base, third base and score with the girl (Ellen Foley singing). At a break mid-song, Phil Rizzuto is heard doing a play-by-play of a runner working his way around the bases and then headed home on a squeeze play (“It’s gonna be close, holy cow, I think he’s gonna make it.”). You will need to listen to see if he did.
Rizzuto received some criticism for cooperating in a risqué song full of double entendre lyrics. He defended himself, saying he had recorded a separate track and did not realize how it was going to be used. Whatever happened, Rizzuto was friendly with Meat Loaf when they met on the field at the 1994 All-Star Game (cool video; 3 minutes).
Meat Loaf was at the game to sing the National Anthem. So, I’ll play that first, then the song that Phil Rizzuto help make famous. From operatic to pounding rock.
“Star Spangled Banner” (1814) by Meat Loaf (1994). His rendition at the All-Star Game was highly praised.
“Paradise By the Dashboard Light” by Meat Loaf (1977). This link is to a live performance with Karla DeVito doing the female call-and-response with Meat Loaf (rather than Ellen Foley on the recorded version). Rita and I saw Karla sing the song with Meat Loaf at the Uptown Theater during the Bat Out of Hell tour in 1978. Be prepared for a rousing live performance.
Walk-Off Message:
Go Royals!
