Through the Ages, the Different Meanings of Being a Royals Fan

And I’ve gotten so used to the jokes about liking a Minor League team that it’s kind of sad. It makes you wonder why people my age are still fans. Guess that makes us either really loyal or really stupid.

Close enough to 45 to fit that category, and it you are exactly right. I became a Royals fan in 1976, at age 11, when I attended my first ever MLB game during a family trip to KC. I assumed that it was perfectly normal and expected for your favorite team to be in contention every year and to make the playoffs most years. And I was in college in 85, watchign the WS games in a bar and never dreaming that it would be decades before another playoff appearance.

Meanwhile, my teenage kids know the Royals only as a national joke. When I talk about the great teams of the 70s and 80s they look at me like I’m talking about Ty Cobb and Cy Young.

At 38 (a little younger than the 45 crowd), I remember hating those Yankees so, so very much. My family moved from Queens—why weren’t they Mets fans?—to St. Joe when I was two, so the Yankees were always my older sister’s team and the Royals became mine in 1976 at the age of 5. You could even get T-shirts that said “Yankees Go Home” at Penneys at that time. ‘76-’78 remain a little fuzzy—I remember Chambliss, but the rest is vague. My first in person game was in ’79 and I more solidly remember losing the division to California that year, but 1980 was when I was hooked for life. Brett chasing .400 was the best (I got my parents to buy like 3 or 4 of the year end magazines with “Sportsman of the Year” Brett on the cover). The playoffs rocked: our 4th grade teacher even brought a radio into the classroom during the day games in KC that series so we could listen. And the homer in game 3 at NY while I was running around the house yelling “Cook the Goose!” (yes, I was just that clever) and watching my sister in unbelief because the Royals finally beat the Yankees was probably the greatest moment of my young life.

My parents sent me to bed during game 7 when I was in 2nd grade – I’ve never forgiven them for that. I listened to the rest of the game on my radio.

I remember the excitement of the 2003 season. Well, it was exciting for me. And that was it. Couple that with living in St. Louis, and it’s been a hard time to be a Royals fan.

when did the Negro Leagues Museum open?

So can remember ’85 pretty clearly. Although back then, it was more of a casual interest. I was still your typical Canadian preteen Hockey nut. And the Flames were really good around then too. But my dad (a Kansas Citian, who married my Canadian mother) was doing a pretty good job of converting me into a baseball fan, and I was pretty excited when we won it all in ’85.

(older then Bubbyball, that is) all I have to do is sign on to this site. I remember my brother talking about this really good young hitter for the A’s. We both would lay on the linoleum floor in our bedroom and he would read and explain the sports pages to me. He was ecstatic when the A’s traded that young superstar to the Yankees. Yes folks, you want to talk about bad trades. The A’s traded away Roger Maris for three has beens worse then our modern day hero, Willie Bloomquist. That was my induction into being an A’s fan. I always liked the total opposite of my brother. If he liked the Yankees, I hated them. If he laughed at the A’s, I stuck up for them. So, that is how I became a long long suffering A’s, now Royals fan. You know Dancing Dayton’s trades don’t look so bad in comparison to to the Roger Maris trade. After so many decades of losing seasons one would think that I would have developed a thick rhino like skin to their failures. But, then they come along and put together one winning season and the hope springs eternal again. I have tried to leave but that would only last maybe a half of a season at the longest. During that time I would still follow them from the safety of the sportspages. Somehow the losing doesn’t feel so bad if you can wad up the paper and throw it against the wall. Oh well, only 24 games left and we have an outside chance not to lose 100 games this season.

And you are older than me Grudz96. However, my route to the Royals is somewhat different because I grew up on the East Coast (Mets fan) and didn’t become a Royals fan until 1976 when I moved to Lawrence for graduate school. My timing could hardly have been better. I have always been a Yankees hater and it seemed natural to root for the Royals, especially during that time. I have stuck with them ever since (even with a 4 year sojourn to Gainesville, FL). I watched the infamous game #6 of the ‘85 World Series in a hotel room with a grad school buddy who at the time was teaching at WashU in St. Louis. Somehow a whole bottle of single malt scotch disappeared that night…
Now I am back in the Midwest and still a fan. This site is responsible for that in a large way. I don’t know if I should praise you or despise you, Will.

I’m 26 and vaguely remember the George Brett era. I remember him getting his 3,000th hit and calling in to a number that was in the KC Star to hear the radio call on that hit. I just missed out on the good stuff. I moved to KC when I was six and I’ve been in the area ever since. It just never made any sense to root for anyone else (although I was born in MN, my dad grew up in MN, and we certainly cheered for the Twins in the Puckett/Hrbek days).

The strike really pushed me away from baseball and I really didn’t pay much attention to it for a while. Eventually I started going to the K again w/ friends just for something to do, and that seemed to grow into doomed Royals fanhood.

I consider myself a diehard and a baseball fan, so I get pretty annoyed at The K with all the hot dog races, mini-hot dog races, dance cam, etc., and I really don’t like being told to “Get Loud!” before a big at bat whatever. I find all that a bit pathetic.

Hell, our own team advertises “You’ll never be stuck in your seat, that’s for sure” as a reason to attend a Royals game. Yikes.

But hey, no one under 35 has seen meaningful baseball here, so few people really get into the games. The game experience on the other side of the state is what baseball is supposed to be. People here never get to experience it. Sad.

That puts me in the 40ish group. I think this group also hates the Yanks about as much as the 45 year olds. I still remember losing in the playoffs to them 3 years in a row. After the third time (1978), a buddy and I got together and completely trashed our Yankees baseball cards. Ripped up. Shredded. Destroyed. Blown up with left over fireworks.

And yes, I was the older brother that raved about Frank White.

bah

I am a lifelong Alaskan but since my mom is from KC I became a Royals fan in the early 70s, back in the days of Feddie Patek and Doug Drabek. I was in Tokyo on leave spending time with my wife-to-be in 85 and I was in 7th heaven as the George Brett led Royals won the World Series. Haven’t been very interested in baseball since 94 but maybe my work schedule will slow down a bit in the years to come and I will have more time to enjoy the games and stats again.

I have vague memories of the 1978 playoffs. But, in 1979, I went to my first Royals game and was hooked. I was in mourning for the 1980 Royals (I never did like Tug McGraw after that) but was actually at Game 7 of the 1985 World Series. No matter how awful the last 15 years have been, it can’t cancel out those early years. I am a Royals fan for life whether I like it or not…and most often these days I don’t.

i’m 23 (about to be 24). i remember Brett’s old days, mostly playing as a DH and a 1b every now and then. he was still some kind of god in KC, and i remember bo jackson, though mostly people just talking about him. the strike soured me a little, but it was the yankees resurgence and the spending of the late 1990s and early 2000s that made me bitter about the game. to be honest, the Royals never have a chance until a cap or better media-based revenue sharing is in place. until then, the occasional division win or wild card may be possible, but not the world series. steroids have not had an effect on my fandom of baseball, though my formative years of being a fan were mostly tainted. i, to this day, am probably the biggest Barry Bonds fan left, especially outside of San Francisco.

vague memories of Brett, saw him play a few times, but he was not one of the better players on the team when I became cognizant. Mediocre is the perfect word for the early 90s Royals, but back then it seemed so much worse. The strike didn’t faze me at all, I have been hardcore into baseball my whole life. In fact, 1994 was around the time when I was into sending cards to players in the mail for signatures, and in each one I sent in August and September I would plead with them to do something to end the strike. August 12 has been burned into my memory ever since then, it was one of the more traumatic events of my young life to that point.

I remember the Blues, not the Monarchs from my early childhood; then the excitement of getting a team; then they left for Oakland the same year I left for nearby Stanford Law! But I became a Royals fan, not an A’s fan.

What most bugs me is look at 2003: it looked like we were a team on the way up; and Detroit was beyond sucking (isn’t that the year their record was terrible). Now look who’s in first place. Why couldn’t that be the Royals.

My biggest memory as a kid was one year the always last place Royals won 11 in a row mid season and actually almost looked like a contender; but then the Yankees came into town and blew them away, that was the end.

FML.

thankfully I live in nashville most of the year and have only become really serious about the royals in the last few years. lets see… constantly mocked for being a royals fan? check. stuck listening to my dad long for the 80s? check.

we had artificial turf?

at this point, i’m hoping to see a successful team (or even a team that just avoids underacheiving) sometime while i’m still alive and young enough to give a shit about what’s happening. my dad definitely does not care anymore. it’s tragic.

Spoiled? How about cursed….to have the deliciousness of post season play…nay, post season success, dangled in front of you as a more or less sure thing, and then have it cruelly and possibly forever taken away again before you even finish college? Better to have loved and lost then never loved at all? Bullshit. At least you youngins don’t really know what you are missing. As far as loyalty, I’d say just about every clown posting on here deserves high marks. Lets face it, its September, the Royals had their hopes crushed back in June, and we’re all here still talking about the team we love, for better or for much worse I guess. You don’t pick your teams, they pick you. Chris Chambliss hit that homer in ‘76 when I was a 4th grader…..I swear I saw Freddie Patek bawling in the dugout, I’ve been a Royals fan ever since.

The first few players I remember from my childhood are Tim Belcher, Chris Haney, and Mike Macfarlane. I did not fully grasp the concept of budget limitations when Johnny Damon was traded away.

I’m 28, I remember 85 clearly (I think, but maybe RR is right) and saw Bo and Brett play a ton. I wish I still had that “three silver bats in three decades” poster… I just moved 25 miles from the stadium in June and I’m kinda glad I held off on those season tickets. I’ll probably get all hot and bothered in April and buy some though…. Man, just one year it’d be nice to play into October. You know, so I could make fun of other teams that didn’t. Please…

I grew up in Miami when there was no pro ball there. The Marlins didn’t start until ‘93 I think. I was long gone by then. In "93, I was in Germany playing with tanks. Anyway, I grew up more as a football fan, than a baseball fan. My dad had spent time in Baltimore after med school and was an Oriole’s fan and he would listen to a game from time to time on the radio on the weekend if we could get it.

I grew up actually in the Keys, Islamorada to be exact, and about a half mile from where Ted Williams retired to after baseball. He and my dad would go fly fishing most weekends. I have memories of Ted when I was about 6 or 7, and he was a huge hulking man, very loud, very boisterous. To a small 7 year old, he was flat out scary. I can actually remember shaking hands with him and seeing my tiny hand disappear in his, and being scared of that. I guess my first team was the red sox because of him. I didn’t pay close attention to them or any other team because I liked football.

I joined the Army in ‘88, served 8 years, met my ex wife in Tacoma Wash, near Ft Lewis, and she was born and raised in Topeka. We decided to move to Topeka in ’96, and I’ve been here ever since. I started following the Royals loosely at first, then after ‘03, I became more interested. I do remember wondering what the hell owners were thinking when they traded away Beltran. He was sooooooo good, and they needed him. That pissed me off. I think that was when I got hooked. I’ve been keeping track since. Went to my first games this season.

Oh yeah, I’m part of the generation that doesn’t need a reason to hate the Yankees, I just do. I hated the Yankees when I didn’t care about baseball.

It is the Italian Stallion starting for the Royals. He is going to kick butt.

The stars of my youth: Chili Davis, Jeff King, Gary Gaetti

I have no idea why I still follow this team

and I was only 4 when the Royals won the world Series, of course I don’t remember this season but one of my earliest memories was my dead screaming for joy jumping up and down watching our little black and white TV. I didn’t fully understand what had happened till years later. I guess I can’t say with out a doubt thats what was happening, but I grew up in Wyoming so I can’t imagine what else it could have been.

As for me going to a Royals game was a major event and I remember George Brett, but by the time I saw him he was playing 1B and never understood how he was the greatest 3Bman of all time because he played 1B. I lived far enough away that I didn’t realize how bad the Royals had been getting, probably because I was mesmerized by the Bash Brothers when I was young. I didn’t become a Royals fan until after the strike, so I guess I fit in the fans 20 and under, and when the Royals had their 2003 season is really the first year that I became a die hard, and they have slowly been killing me ever since.

the Royals would have went to the playoffs in 1994, and fuck Bud Selig and the owners for screwing us over right when we were due for a playoff run.

And perhaps a 1994 pennant run provides needed funds to keep players like Cone, leading to us being a wildcard contender in 1995. And so on.

The Strike was too much for me for a period of almost 4 years, and even after 1998, I really began to full-time fandom in 2003. (But I remember seeing Gamboa get attacked in 2002)

The first series I actually got to watch was ’87. Thinking about that makes me want to strangle my parents; although perhaps it was best that the success I now yearn for was never realized at an early age.

Saw a ton of Bo, though, and he was our last folk hero.

I see my Daddy in this article. He was blind, but listened to the A’s faithfully on our old white plastic kitchen radio. He passed away before the Royals came to town, and never had the thrill of rooting for a winner. I see myself and my three kids, 34, 31 and 25 in this great commentary, too. I took my two oldest kids to the Liberty Memorial for the 85 World Series celebration and that has stayed with them all these years. My oldest son always wore #5 in Little League, played 3rd base and regaled his little brother with tales of George Brett’s greatness, and both of my boys have always batted left and thrown right. My poor 13 year old grandson, a Royal’s fan because his Dad tells him faithfully about George Brett and the glory years, patiently and faithfully waits for the Royals to rise again.

Better days, they are a coming!!! But boy this has been a tough year! Come on Royals!