Andrew Stockmann

Image courtesy of © Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Growing up, my brother and I got called out of school each year for the Royals’ first home game. It was the coolest feeling to leave class and head to the K with our dad. Even as a little Royals fan, I always appreciated the pomp and circumstance associated with Opening Day: the bunting hanging from the upper deck, the Royals alumni lining the field before first pitch, and noticing the small updates made to the K each offseason. With that in mind, here are five notable Royals home openers since 2000, in chronological order: April 5, 2004 - Beltran Walks it Off Coming off a surprising 83-79 finish in 2003, dare I say expectations were raised for this mid-2000s Royals squad? A full house packed the K to see the Royals face the division rival White Sox. Five-year-old me was there! Can you name the Opening Day starter for the 2004 Royals? Lefty Brian Anderson took the mound for the Royals against Mark Buehrle, another southpaw who ended up with a 3.54 career ERA against the Royals over 366 innings. The White Sox raced out to a 4-1 lead thanks to a Paul Konerko double and Sandy Alomar's homer. Their lead ballooned to 7-2 by the bottom of the 7th, but the Royals weren’t finished. New acquisition Benito Santiago cracked an RBI double, and soon pinch-hitter Mendy Lopez stepped up to the plate. In fact, Lopez was a pinch-hitter for a pinch-hitter, as Matt Stairs was introduced but didn’t face lefty reliever, Damaso Marte. Lopez only played 18 games in 2004, the last of his career. However, his shining moment came when he slammed a game-tying three-run homer to left-center field. After Angel Berroa singled, Carlos Beltran stepped up and belted a walk-off homer to left field. Amidst all the fireworks, I’m pretty sure we left this game early. April 10, 2009 - Renovated Kauffman Stadium’s Debut A couple of years ago, I found this print at an antique mall. I didn’t have a George Brett shirsey, but this is the Kauffman Stadium I grew up with. However, the K didn’t look that way come 2009, because of a $250 million renovation that was fully unveiled against the mighty Yankees. This was the first game where Royals fans could experience the K’s iconic fountains from up close, thanks to the new Outfield Experience. Newly anchoring the outfield corners, Rivals sports bar and the Royals Hall of Fame building also made their debuts in 2009. The actual game itself was pretty ho-hum. Andy Pettitte dominated the Royals' lineup, going seven strong innings while allowing one run and striking out six. Sidney Ponson got the nod for the Royals and allowed four runs over six innings. Six months later, the Yankees would win the World Series, while Zack Greinke took home the American League Cy Young for the Royals. April 3, 2016 - Champs Debut New Threads This game felt big. How could it not? Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, under the lights at the K. The Royals don’t often debut at night, but coming off their 2015 World Series victory over the New York Mets, they faced off against those same Mets to kick off the MLB slate in 2016. Adding to the shine of this game was the new uniforms sported by the new World Champions. The team sought permission from MLB, Majestic, and New Era to incorporate and then continue wearing their gold-trimmed home jerseys and hats for select games throughout the 2016 season, with this game as their debut. Just like Game 5 in 2015, the Royals got to Matt Harvey, chasing him in the sixth inning after scoring four runs on eight hits. Edinson Volquez continued his streak of clutch performances from the season prior and didn’t allow a run over six innings, and the bullpen survived a disastrous Joakim Soria outing to hang on for the 4-3 win. While the 2016 season was a letdown in general, this game was a fantastic start. July 31, 2020 - Pandemic Season at Empty K I had to include this game, even if very few people were there. In particular, BECAUSE very few people were there. The Royals started the COVID-abbreviated 2020 campaign on the road before returning to the K and an official attendance of “Not Given.” This highlight of Salvy’s RBI single shows the striking lack of fans, except for the goofy cardboard cutouts behind home plate. We’ll always know a 2020 season highlight upon first glance. Making his MLB debut on this night was Kris Bubic, part of the notable 2018 draft class that featured a bevy of college pitchers. Only Bubic and Daniel Lynch IV remain on the 2026 Royals, which is a little hard to believe given all the hype and promise of those arms. Bubic pitched fine for a rookie debuting under incredibly odd circumstances, going four innings before turning it over to relievers Tyler Zuber, Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont, Trevor Rosenthal, and Greg Holland. However, Dallas Keuchel scattered seven hits over 5.1 innings and held off the Royals for the 3-2 win. April 7, 2022 - Bobby Debuts in the Cold This was probably the coldest Royals game I’ve ever attended. My dad, brother, and I sat in the upper deck, with the wind swirling around and the temperature around 40 degrees. Perhaps that’s why the listed attendance was only 28,459. At least I got to wear my dad’s Royals coat from the 90s! Before the game, my brother was one of many in the Team Store at the K to buy a Bobby Witt Jr. jersey. I’d say that was a good investment! Bobby made his debut at third base and came up to the plate with the go-ahead run on second base in the eighth inning. “Bob-by, Bob-by, Bob-by” came out of our chilled lungs, hoping to see our 2019 first-round pick deliver in his debut. And he certainly did, knocking an RBI double down the left field line to score Michael A. Taylor. The starting pitcher for the Royals in this game? None other than Zack Greinke, who only allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings. His second stint with the Royals was a far cry from the peak of his powers in 2009, but it’s a sweet, fun fact that he was teammates with Bobby Witt Jr., the vanguard of this next Royals generation. View full article

It’s a shame that physical tickets don’t exist anymore. Their branded designs and omnipresence made them easy mementos. When I was a kid, my dad had a 20-game Royals season ticket package, and all of our tickets and parking passes came in a bound book. Dad would tear off each game’s necessities, and away we went, making the drive from Liberty to the K. We took alternate routes and backroads in September and October 2014, as we joined thousands of other fans watching the team’s first playoff run in 29 years. In this series at Royals Keep, I’m looking back on Royals history from this century through the lens of memorabilia. Dad’s season ticket package was just a quarter of the team’s home games, but it allowed him the ability to purchase postseason tickets. Our regular seats were section 232, row BB, seats 3, 4, 5, and 6. I will remember those numbers for the rest of my life! For the playoffs, however, we shifted to the third base side and section 223. We barely sat in our seats during the Wild Card Game, forever the best baseball game I will ever watch in person. In 2019, the Royals switched from paper tickets to the MLB Ballpark app. “If a fan wants a paper copy of their ticket, the ticket office will print a stub for a $5 fee,” according to this KSHB 41 release announcing the change. My family and thousands of other Royals fans are lucky that this adjustment occurred years after the 2014-15 playoff runs. I’m so fortunate to have had that shared experience, for it produced my favorite baseball gift I’ve ever received. My mom took our playoff tickets and had them matted and framed, turning each collection of tickets into a one-of-a-kind Christmas gift. For my dad, she combined her tickets with his and included the parking passes, while my brother and I got our tickets to the Wild Card Game, ALDS Game 3, ALCS Game 3, ALCS Game 4, and World Series games 1, 2, 6, and 7. What’s your favorite baseball gift you’ve ever received? Because I watched those games in person, I think I actually have more affection for the 2014 American League champions than the 2015 World Series winners. Does anyone else feel this way? I still cried when Wade Davis struck out Wilmer Flores to end World Series game 5, but that 2014 team was incredibly special. Ten years later, the 2024 Royals shocked baseball by improving by 30 games and sneaking into the playoffs as a Wild Card team, just as they did in 2014. Before 2024 kicked off, I asked my brother if we should take our dad to the next Royals home playoff game, whenever that may be. Now grown adults who still love baseball, my thought was we can begin to pay back our dad for the literal hundreds of Royals games he took us to in the summer heat. Little did I think we’d make it to the K that October! Aaron and I bought upper-deck tickets for us and our dad to attend ALDS Game 3, where the mighty Yankees beat the Royals 3-2. Too bad we don’t have a paper ticket, although we have this great photo and memories of saying hi to Jeff Passan before the game. Bonus: I remain shocked by the amount of niche baseball memorabilia available online. Upon searching “Royals season ticket book” on eBay, this gem popped up: a 2014 Royals season ticket book. This can be yours for the low price of $24.99 plus shipping. View full article

Image courtesy of Royals.com It was up high and unboxed, on top of a glass display case at the antique mall. It’s not much of an antique, considering it was an exclusive season ticket member bobblehead in 2019. Curious and familiar, I went over expecting to see at least $50 on the price tag. I knew these had sold online for quite a bit more, too. Shocked to see $20, I waltzed out of the antique mall with my new purchase for my collection: the Bret Saberhagen & Salvador Perez World Series MVP dual bobblehead. In this series at Royals Keep, I’m looking back on Royals history from this century (and beyond), the good and the bad, through the lens of memorabilia. I didn’t realize until working on this article that in 2024, Baseball-Reference retired its fun Oracle of Baseball tool, which allowed users to basically play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but with ballplayers. However, I did my best to connect these two Royals greats, and a strong, if unlikely, connector is the great Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo. While Saberhagen closed out his career in Boston with three games in 2001, Nomo won 13 games for the Red Sox that season. He kept playing through 2005, then resurfaced for three outings with the 2008 Royals. Salvy didn’t make his debut until 2011, but several Royals were on the 2008 and 2011 squads, including Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, and Mitch Maier. The bobblehead depicts each MVP holding the World Series trophy, and I love the little details in their uniforms. Saberhagen is in his trademark stirrups, and his jersey has a 1985 World Series logo. The lettering on Salvy’s jersey and cap is golden, a nice homage to the gold threads worn in the years after the 2015 title. Both of these men were well-deserving of World Series MVP honors. Saberhagen remains the youngest to ever win the award. At the age of 21, he threw two complete games in the 1985 World Series, besting the Cardinals in games 3 and 7. Only allowing one run, he struck out 10 and walked a single batter over his 18 innings. He had a whopping 25% Championship Win Probability Added. Perez led the Royals in hits and OPS as they defeated the Mets in 2015. He wasn’t behind the plate for the final out, however. Backup Drew Butera got to catch the final strikeout from Wade Davis after Perez was lifted for pinch runner Jarrod Dyson, who scored the go-ahead run in the 12th inning. This bobblehead is not the only time Saberhagen and Perez have “appeared” together. Right before the 2016 season, Ford introduced the F-150 “MVP” model, and these two MVPs appeared in advertisements, including this commercial. And, in a wild segment befitting of late-night TV, Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez were on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in the days after the clinching game in 2015. Fallon dug up Saberhagen’s Ford commercial, a 1980s classic where he raps (!), and brought out an actor who awkwardly raps wearing a Saberhagen jersey. Then, the real Saberhagen comes out! Hosmer and Perez appear confused. Take a look for yourself here, and see if you’re as confused as they are! I can’t say I expected to go down a Ford truck commercial rabbit hole when I bought my $20 bobblehead or started writing this piece, but that’s what I enjoy about memorabilia: the rabbit holes, the connective tissue found throughout baseball, and yes, the goofy commercials and marketing opportunities done by players then and now. Hopefully, the Royals win another World Series soon, so a trio of World Series MVP bobbleheads can be produced! View full article

As Alex Gordon started to amass Gold Gloves in left field, my brother and I briefly took pitching lessons from his younger brother, Derek. The elder Gordon is known for his muscle-bound frame, while Derek is a lanky 6’6”, a perfect build for a pitcher. Derek put up decent numbers over two minor league seasons, while Alex is a new addition to the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. In this series at Royals Keep, I’m looking back on Royals history from this century, the good and the bad, through the lens of memorabilia. As far as I can tell, the Royals have given away six Alex Gordon bobbleheads, plus a Gold Glove replica. He’s been a Star Wars Jedi and immortalized in his pose rounding the bases after his dramatic 2015 World Series Game 1 homer, but his first bobblehead from 2008 is what I’ll focus on here. 2008 was Gordon’s age-24 season, his second in a Royals uniform. He was still a third baseman at the time. I found this blog post announcing a sweepstakes related to this June 21, 2008, giveaway, which points out the Royals hadn’t given away a bobblehead of a current player in several seasons. In fact, the last current player bobblehead before this one was Mike Sweeney, all the way back in April 2003. Such was the state of the Royals from 2003 to 2008. Missed opportunity for a Ken Harvey tarp bobblehead, I guess! Shoutout to 2004 All-Star Ken Harvey. Ken Harvey and Alex Gordon are both Nebraska Cornhuskers, as a matter of fact. The Royals really leaned into the Nebraska of it all with the 2008 bobblehead design. The bobbling Gordon leans against the knob of his bat and holds a baseball. At his feet is a basket filled with baseballs and corn. What could be more Nebraskan than that? The Royals defeated the Giants 5-3 on the night of this bobblehead giveaway. Alex Gordon walked three times! While the Royals gave away a bobblehead in 2021 showing Gordo with his Gold Gloves, they never made a bobblehead showing him making an acrobatic catch or an accurate throw from the outfield. To me, the quintessential Gordon catch involved him racing in towards the infield and making a diving catch angling towards the foul line. A missed opportunity, perhaps, to honor the eight-time Gold Glover. It’s hard to analyze and compare prospect hype, but before the Royals had the #1 farm system in baseball that produced the likes of Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, the organization had Alex Gordon (and Billy Butler). Gordon was seen by some as the second coming of George Brett. As was recently circulated, one of the Gordon brothers is named Brett, as are so many midwestern boys, in honor of the only Baseball Hall of Famer wearing a Kansas City Royals cap. While Alex Gordon’s career doesn’t quite reach the statistical markers of the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was inducted this summer into the Royals Hall of Fame. That led to another bobblehead! Besides the suspense of learning who will be inducted into Cooperstown, I always enjoy examining the bottom of the ballot results to see who received a handful of votes. Former Royals to get at least one Hall of Fame vote in the last decade include Raúl Ibañez, Johnny Damon, Jason Kendall, and Mike Sweeney. I’ll be rooting for Gordo to join this list when the results are announced on January 20. View full article

I don’t know if other Royals fans do this, but every year on September 30, I watch highlights of the 2014 American League Wild Card Game. September 30, 2014, was “the night Kansas City baseball came back to life,” as beat writer Andy McCullough beautifully titled his 2015 retrospective. Exactly nine years prior, playing out the string of what was then the worst season in team history, the Royals got blasted 10-1 by the Toronto Blue Jays. What do these two games have in common? I’m so glad you asked. Before we get to that answer, why does a framed lineup card from this game hang proudly in my parents’ basement? Perhaps it’s a memorial to all of the games like this one we sat through at the K during my childhood, even though this game was in Toronto. I grew up in Liberty, MO, a proud Royals fan even during the lean years of the mid-2000s. My dad had a 20-game season ticket package for Section 232, Row BB, Seats 3-6. I’ll remember those numbers forever. In this series at Royals Keep, I’ll look back on Royals history from this century, the good and the bad, through the lens of memorabilia. For the record, I believe my dad got this lineup card from a family friend who worked for the team. Making his last start of the 2005 campaign in this game was a young Zack Greinke. It so happened that the future Hall of Famer had a terrible year: his 17 losses led the AL, and Greinke finished with a 5.80 ERA and an ERA+ of 76 (100 is the league average). He lurched through four innings in this game, allowing seven runs and finishing with a game score of 17. It’s not like the 2005 Blue Jays were an offensive juggernaut either. They finished collectively with a 94 OPS+. Still in their mid-to-late 20s were hitters like Vernon Wells, Orlando Hudson, and Alex Rios, all of whom had productive careers but were still finding their footing. Managing the squad in his first full season was John Gibbons, who later served as the bench coach for the Royals under both Trey Hillman and Ned Yost. On the mound for Toronto was righty Josh Towers, wrapping up the best season of his career. Aaron Guiel’s pop-up to lead off the game put Towers over the 200-inning threshold, and he finished the year with a 3.76 ERA and 3.6 fWAR, over half his career total. Towers pitched a complete game, throwing his nine frames in just 94 pitches, scattering nine hits and striking out six Royals. The best part of these meaningless September games is often the young prospects or career minor leaguers who get a cup of coffee in the big leagues. This was much more prevalent with rosters expanded to 40 slots, which were curtailed to 28 in 2020. John-Ford Griffin only got 23 MLB at-bats, but he produced 28% of his career hits and 44% of his career RBIs in this contest. The former first-round pick, batting ninth as the designated hitter, doubled off of Greinke and batted in four as the Blue Jays raced to a 10-1 win in a snappy 2 hours and 16 minutes (pre-pitch clock!) Watching Griffin’s career game from the bullpen was a young Blue Jays pitcher named Jason Frasor. Little did he know that exactly nine years later, he would allow a go-ahead single to Alberto Callaspo before a young Royals catcher pulled a cathartic double down the left field line. That’s right, the winning pitcher of the 2014 Wild Card Game is tucked into the lower right corner of the lineup card, proving that baseball (even terrible mid-2000s Royals baseball) is full of interesting connections. Isn’t that what America’s pastime is all about? If anyone reading this wants to torture themselves further with mid-2000s Royals nostalgia, you can actually watch this game on YouTube. The late, great Paul Splittorff joins a young Ryan Lebrevre on the RSTN broadcast, as the Royals don their iconic black jerseys. Another perk is that there is no k-zone on the broadcast! Happy watching! View full article