Being a Royals fan in New York City
Sam Mellinger conducts an in depth analysis into NYRoyal (Scott McKinney) to see what makes him tick talks to several Royals fans living in NYC, including me, to see what it is like to be a Royals fan in the big apple.
16 days ago
NYRoyal
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Royals NYC fan here...
My stepson (11) wasn’t a baseball fan before we met four years ago. A real life baseball tabula rasa. I went to work. This year was absolutely critical. We watched most Greinke starts on mlb.tv and now he sees everything through a Greinke/Royals prism. He hates the Yankees with a passion. He reads SI every week. He’s a true fan.
Every game we watch he asks, “Is (CC, Cliff Lee, Burnett, Hamels, Lackey, etc etc) as good as Greinke?” My response is always the same: “Greinke’s the best pitcher in the world.” It always makes him smile. He wants to see Greinke bat.
His favorite birthday present last month was his Greinke jersey. He wears it everywhere, including to bed.
We had tickets to the late-season series at Yankee Stadium. The first game was delayed a couple of hours and he was devastated. We sat alone in the bleachers under an umbrella in the cold driving rain until 8:00.
We are a staunch Royals family living on the Upper East Side. If it weren’t for ZG, I’m not sure that we could do it.
by billexgordler on Nov 4, 2009 11:28 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Well done
Raising a child to hate the Yankees is every parent’s duty. I hope I can get my daughter to love baseball. I’ll do my best.
The immoderate moderator
by NYRoyal on Nov 4, 2009 11:43 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
my daughters call them
“The Hated Yankees”.
"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell
by buddyball on Nov 4, 2009 4:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Follow-up
My stepson wore his Greinke jersey today. He wears it every Thursday for gym. It’s so cool.
by billexgordler on Nov 5, 2009 10:16 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Badass
although since it’s a Greinke jersey it’s not quite as brave. That’s a good thing.
Now, if he really has stones, he’ll wear his Jacobs jersey…
I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.
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by devil_fingers on Nov 6, 2009 10:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Way to stay true!
Here’s the quote that I’ll remember:
Farnsworth gave up the lead as Yankees fans taunted from the stands and Kiefer started crying his first tears as a Royals fan. Welcome to the team, kid.
When Farnsworth pitches, children cry. Sounds about right.
Tension is the enemy. - Charlie Lau
by aHorseWithNoName on Nov 4, 2009 12:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Dead-on article
Are there really so many of us? I was at the Lerew win-Farnsworth loss game also, I wonder if the guy Sam Mellinger spoke to was one of the few Royals caps I passed by in the lobby.
Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!
by cmkeller on Nov 4, 2009 12:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
What about the Royals fans in Philly?
Or are they in hiding (or worse)?
by Gopherballs on Nov 4, 2009 12:45 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
That was a good article
Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!
by loyal2sdad on Nov 4, 2009 1:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Long Time Reader...
I live in new york and went to the Tejade start this september. Every year when i go to the royals games my hatred for all things yankees gets reaffirmed. had some midget guido yelling at me the whole game about my Gordon t-shirt. Good fun
by c_town6128 on Nov 4, 2009 1:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
It really is hard going to Royals games at Yankee Stadium
And not just because the Royals almost always lose there. The fans really are a-holes. I can understand Yankee fans spewing venom about the Red Sox or a real rival. But they don’t give a damn about the Royals (nor should they) and yet they still harass Royals fans and talk shit about the Royals. Totally classless.
The immoderate moderator
by NYRoyal on Nov 4, 2009 1:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Having never been to a game in NY, this is what I don't understand...
How do these heckling sessions go, exactly? Even for classless New Yorkers, don’t they walk a pretty fine line between funny/mean heckling and just seeming pathetic when they start talking shit to Royals fans? Kind of like a perennial high school football state championship team continuing to run up the score on a school that only has 24 kids who decided to play this year. Do other fans ever tell the hecklers to just give it up? Especially in a situation like the one in the article with a crying 6-year-old. Or is the entire place truly devoid of any class whatsoever?
"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae
"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie
by Sweep_the_Leg on Nov 4, 2009 1:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
You would think they have bigger fish to fry..
but we are talking about some low baseball iq individuals. Last game the guy would not stop yelling who they hell is Gordon. I would say that most of the fans were thinking this guy should just shut up, but when we got up to check out the rest of the stadium towards the end of the game I was greeted with an “Asshole” chant. Classy night all together.
by c_town6128 on Nov 4, 2009 2:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Yes, it is pathetic
You’d think that Yankee fans wouldn’t waste their time devoting any energy to ridiculing the Royals. But they like it. Not all Yankee fans at the stadium are assholes, but I’ve never heard any of the “good ones” encourage the bad ones to shut up. I believe they all think it is good, clean fun. New Yorkers, in general, aren’t mean spirited, vicious assholes. But the douchebag guidos who are in abundance at Yankee Stadium certainly are.
The immoderate moderator
by NYRoyal on Nov 4, 2009 3:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Totally agree..
i have lived here 5 years now and riding the subway to work everyday i see things that people do for each other that people in the midwest (I lived my first 25 years in missouri) wouldn’t even do. all in all new yorkers are good people who get along quite well considering the lack of personal space that we deal with on a daily basis.
by c_town6128 on Nov 4, 2009 3:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I wore Royals gear to the Cell once... sat in the upper deck
was paralyzed by fear, but nothing happened… I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad
by royalsreview on Nov 4, 2009 3:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
as long as your not
the first base coach i think you should be safe there.
by c_town6128 on Nov 4, 2009 4:01 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Paralyzed by the fans or the 75 degree angle of the upper deck?
The only baseball game at which I or someone I was with got into a physical altercation was at New Comiskey. I went with a friend who was a Yankees fan, who wore a team windbreaker. As we were walking down the ramp after the Sox won, a staggering drunk Sox fan sidled up to my friend and started accosting him (“you guys ain’t so tough”). At first, it was just little finger jabs, which my friend swatted away, but it quickly escalated to pushing and a throwdown challenge. At that point, the drunk’s buddies and I intervened, but we had to keep looking over our shoulder until we got to the El.
by Gopherballs on Nov 4, 2009 4:05 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Rec
for the dig at the upper deck angle. It is worse than the K’s even, and that’s saying something.
Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!
by loyal2sdad on Nov 4, 2009 5:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I can handle the older life long Yankees fans.
The true Yankee fans that are actual fans of baseball and not just front runners remember the days that we used to be their biggest rival. I can take the shit talking from them, because the hate is rational and a result of actual baseball history. I always find it amazing the hatred for the Royals that comes from older Yankees fans and how strong it is in NY. At least that hate is real. The rest of these bandwagon gen X and Y Yankee fans can go fuck themselves. They don’t have a clue of the history between the two clubs and are the same fuck-os that will be back in line for $300 tickets when the Knicks get good again and they’ll talk about their life-long fandom of the team.
I will also be indoctrinating my daughter by having her sing songs of Royal joy and telling her the glorious tales of Royals history old. We must have the next generation retelling these tales of Royal greatness. We cannot allow history to wipe our good names from the transcribed history of time!!!! Like time before writing, we must depend on tales and folklore to keep the memories of Royal success living on!!!!!!!!!!
Turning Kool-Aid to Jesus Juice since 2009.
by Discodave on Nov 4, 2009 2:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
That hasn't been my experience
Generally, I just get pity, and occasional reminiscence about the Brett days. When I was there for the Lerew game last month, and Farnsworth came in, one Yankee fan turned to me and said, “Sorry, dude.”
Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!
by cmkeller on Nov 4, 2009 2:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
more personal anecdotes regarding this very thing...
Yes Yanks fans are classless. I took my nephew and stepson to opening day in KC this year, against the Yanks. And our seats happened to be directly behind a Brooklyn-based fire battalion. There were 50 of the drunkest, swarthiest assholes you’ll ever see. They cussed the entire game, ridiculed the Royals and our fans. I was embarrassed AS A NEW YORKER! They were the crudest stereotypes of men. That was the day my stepson learned to hate the Yankees. What a bunch of jerks.
Anyway, at the aforementioned (in my original response) rain-delayed game, Kaya wore his KC hat and as we walked along the concourses would occasionally yell out “Let’s Go Royals!!” and hi-fived any Royals fan he saw.
by billexgordler on Nov 5, 2009 10:13 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
he knows
But Kiefer is no dummy. He’s 6 years old, and really starting to understand the game. He knows when the infield should play in, when the runners should be moving, and which counts the pitcher will throw a fastball.
Folks, I think we’ve found our new manager.
by Trey Hillman's Chin on Nov 4, 2009 2:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I don't even know what that means, when an infield should play in....
you can’t educate these people.
"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell
by buddyball on Nov 4, 2009 4:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
When there's a man on first
and you want to be able to turn a double play, you need to play your infield in because you just can’t rely on some first basemen to properly execute a 3-6-3.
Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!
by cmkeller on Nov 4, 2009 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
good point
"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell
by buddyball on Nov 4, 2009 4:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I was in NYC last summer to watch the Royals play...
and didn’t have any problems with the Yankees fans out in the RF seats.
Plus I got a compliment on my KC hat while walking around the city after the game…..I was surprised to say the least!
by Fernando Vina School of Linguistics on Nov 4, 2009 7:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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