Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals

Our Miss Garmin (GPS) took us on a crazy route to Kauffman Stadium but it turned out to be a good thing as we missed all the traffic. Kauffman is located in a sports complex next door to Arrowhead stadium so sits among vast parking lots. Tailgating however, is allowed and a part of the Kansas City culture. 

Kauffman Stadium

Back of the Jumbotron

 We walked around the whole stadium and then entered and received free t shirts featuring their relievers. We felt very fortunate to have been given tickets to the game. One of the people we met at Unbound, Barclay,  knows the operator of the Jumbotron at Kauffman, Giuliano, and was able to get us tickets for us and Larry and his son Ben. That was so nice! Thanks to Barclay,We went through their very nice and free Hall of Fame. They have lockers set up to honor George Brett, White and Howser, the 1985 World Series trophy, a giant 5 made up of 3154 baseballs (one for each of Brett's career hits, a display of White's Gold Glove Awards and many other pieces of Royals history.

Ewing Kauffman

1985 World Series trophy

 Despite the regal-sounding name, crown based logo, the Kansas City Royals actually weren't named after kings or queens or any monarchs at all. The 2014 American League champions were named in 1968 for livestock. The Royals began play in 1969 as an expansion team and the year before had held a contest to name the team. They received 17,000 entries. The winner Sanford Porte said, “Kansas City’s new baseball team should be called the Royals because of Missouri’s billion-dollar livestock income, Kansas City’s position as the nation’s leading stocker and feeder market and the nationally known American Royal parade and pageant,”. That parade and pageant continues today. The Jumbotron at “the K” rises vertically instead of horizontally and is topped with a large crown. On the back of the board is the familiar KC logo folks on I-70 can see. I thought it was a really nice change and appreciated that it was not decorated with advertising on the sides. It looked clean and had great resolution.

Beautiful fountains

Larry from Unbound and son Ben, both avid Royals fans!  They share a
love of the game and hold a wealth of information.

 It is also nice to be in a stadium still named for a man instead of a bank or juice company. We really enjoyed the game at Kauffman in spite of the rain that fell throughout most of it. I left my raincoat in the car. Oh well, it was a warm rain! The game was low scoring at first until the Royals lit it up and defeated the Tampa Bay Rays for the second time today 7-1. They had to play a double header today due to the tornado warnings last night and rain. In the afternoon game the Royals defeated the Rays 9-5 in the 9^th with a walk off grand slam! There was a fairly big crowd at the game tonight even though it was Tuesday. I guess that is what winning can do! We enjoyed our time with Larry and his son Ben and their mutual love of baseball and wish the Royals and their fans a great rest of their season!

Sluggerrrr celebrates the win