Rita and I will be on the road next week for our fourth annual baseball stadium tour. We start in Minneapolis (Target Field) and then hop on our tour bus for games in Milwaukee (Miller Park), Chicago (Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate Fields) and Cincinnati (Great American Ball Park). Full report in Hot Stove #102.
Three big numbers for me this month.
100th Hot Stove.
60th anniversary of high school graduation.
38th wedding anniversary – 19 years in the 20th century and 19 years in the 21st century.
The month of May is not being kind to the Royals (but the K looked good in this shot posted by Visit KC). So let’s reminisce instead. Plus cover a couple of non-baseball sports highlights. And Hamilton.
The first two calendar months of the season are over. The Royals were quite good in March. Not so much in April. We have only small sample sizes, so there is plenty of time for fortunes to change for any of the 30 teams. Keep hope alive.
Charles Curry. Alex Petrovic. Charlie Wheeler. Three men – county administrative judges – who were instrumental in saving both major league baseball and pro football in Kansas City. The year was 1967. It was the 13th season for the A’s in Kansas City – it would also be their last. The Chiefs had moved from Dallas in 1963, but playing in a retrofitted baseball stadium was not going to work in the long run. These three men held the key.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Royals bullpen blew leads in two games with Minnesota. As with so many things in life, there is a Seinfeld bit to explain why.
It’s April Fools’ Day. Delay reading this post at your peril.
I have previously written about Bill Wakefield, Sidd Finch and Bruce Springsteen. It’s time to connect the dots. This post is a little shorter than normal, so TL;DR should not be applicable (for those who don’t recall, that’s editor shorthand for too long; didn’t read).
I’ll keep it short. Not even giving it a number.
Just need to make sure everybody saw the big news from the Royals opener yesterday.
Opening day is six days away.
As spring training winds down, it’s a good time to view this 1984 video of Bill Veeck (two minutes). He somehow starts with the Garden of Eden and ends with the notion that spring training is mostly a “con job” to boost regular season ticket sales. As always, living up to his book title, Veeck As in Wreck.
Opening Day is March 28, just 17 days away.
Spring Training Prep: A good number of Hot Stove readers have been or will be in Arizona to check out the preseason Royals. They are filing reports with Hot Stove, and I will pass along some of their comments and photos in my next post. Click here for the Royals TV and radio schedule for spring training. Below, SI cover from 1960: