R o y a l s 5 CONTENTS CHAPTERS Royal Lineage 6 Tasting Success 15 A Crowning Achievement 25 The Drought Begins 33 New Nobles 37 AROUND THE HORN Original Royalty 12 Pine Tar Problem 20 The Call 24 Season of Sadness 31 Kansas City’s Castle 38 A Royal Mess 43 ALL-TIME ROYALS P Bret Saberhagen 8 C Darrell Porter 13 1B Mike Sweeney 14 2B Frank White 18 3B George Brett 23 SS Freddie Patek 28 LF Willie Wilson 30 CF Amos Otis 35 RF Bo Jackson 39 M Dick Howser 40 Index 48
6 R o y a l s ROYAL LINEAGE ocated at the convergence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers and near the geographic center of the 48 contiguous United States is Kansas City Missouri Officially settled just prior to the Civil War Kansas City in its formative years was deeply embroiled in the slavery issue that divided the country as it sat along the line between North and South In the years that followed the Civil War and the abolition of slavery Kansas City’s population boomed and the city became one of the largest in the American heartland Kansas City first hosted a professional baseball team in 1920 when the Kansas City Monarchs a charter member of the Negro Leagues began play In 1955 the city welcomed the Athletics an American League AL team that had started out in 1901 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania Unfortunately the Kansas City Athletics had very little success and in 1967 after a mere 13 seasons franchise owners decided to relocate to Oakland California The A’s moved but big league baseball did not In 1969 Major League Baseball granted a new L
Although Kansas City was once home to professional basketball and hockey franchises it today hosts only football’s Chiefs and baseball’s Royals
