As one last hurrah to 2022, I signed up to take a behind-the-scenes tour of Kauffman Stadium today. The weather was about as good as one could hope for on December 31st, but it was still pretty chilly, and I was glad I bundled up for this experience. My tour guide was an older gentleman named Michael, whose daughter also works for the Royals. According to Michael, one month after he retired, his daughter insisted that he needed something to do and helped him get set up giving tours of Kauffman during the off season and working in the Royals Hall of Fame during the season. He’s been working in this capacity for the last eight years, and he certainly knew his stuff.
This post is going to be predominantly pictures, but I’ll try to include explanatory captions where appropriate.
Still a beauty!
Absolutely. Gotta enjoy it so long as we’ve got it.
This is wonderful! Thanks so much Precious for sharing all these original photos! I wonder who the statue is of? Couldn’t be Brett because he was a left-handed batter. Maybe Hal McRae? I love that shot of you between the WS trophies and the fountain spout with no water. Thanks again. What a great idea for December 31st! Happy New Year to you and family. Lots more posts in the new year.
Good point on the statue. I think it was just a generic batter in a Royals uni, though from the stories I’ve heard about Brett, he could’ve hit decent from the right side if he wanted — the story I’m familiar with is that growing up, his dad tried to teach him to be a switch hitter, and his response was that hitting from the right side was stupid. 😆
Lefties seem to have a monopoly on that “sweet swing.” I guess there’s some validity to it in that when we think of the greatest hitters of all-time, typically left-handed batters come to mind, hitters like Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial and then Brett and more recently, Bonds and Griffey, but I’ll take Mike Trout any day too.
Very nice. Glad you got to see it. Have a great New Year.
v
Thanks, v. Happy New Year to you, as well!
Thanks for the tour, Precious. Steve stole my comment/observation, so now I got nuthin’. 🙂