Because Kansas City was the closest city to where we lived (Lincoln, NE), that had a major league baseball team, I started following the Royals as soon as the franchise moved to KC in 1969. When my two oldest sons were born in 1972 and 1977, we made it a point to travel to Kansas City a couple times a season and take in a game or two. I LOVED the Royals and thus, my sons LOVED the Royals. One of my earliest memories was attending a double header game. The boys loved to get autographs, and I loved to watch batting practice. We got to the Ballpark as soon as the gates opened, about 11 a.m. We watched two great baseball games and I can’t honestly tell you if the Royals won or lost but it was a great day of watching baseball with my two boys. After the second game, the boys wanted to wait for the players to come out of the locker room and hopefully collect a few autographs. That meant staying another hour and a half after the game concluded. My wife pointed out when we left that we had been at the Ballpark for 13 hours straight. I said to her, “Great Day for Two!” We are all still Royals’ fans to this day and my youngest son (who was born after the trip I talk about above) even bought us tickets to the World Series in 2014. We got to see Game 6 at the K, a Royals victory 10-1! What a thrill. Baseball continues to make us closer as I battle Stage 4 Prostate Cancer. We all commiserate over a Royals’ loss and celebrate when they win. Our love for the Royals has brought us so much joy, especially the past two years and created so many great memories over the years.
