Let’s win ballgames now and work on promotions later. I am just about sick of hearing about the Negro Leagues. My awareness has been more than raised. Buck O’Neil has been overexploited to the point that he’s become a “magical Negro.” The museum is terrible; there’s virtually nothing in it.

There’s no connection between the Royals and the Monarchs except they played baseball in the same city sixty years apart; you could even argue that the Royals are misappropriating the Monarchs’ history and tradition, since those things do not belong to the current Major Leagues, the same leagues that once blackballed the Monarchs’ players.

While I think Scott has a good point – it would be nice to see the Star do a serious piece on the bigger picture, in the interest of fairness, I thought I’d pass along these tidbits, which I have known about a while this year, but not yet posted here:

1) Royals eliminated the Royal ambassadors this season. (These are not the ushers, mind you – these are the, for the lack of a better word, the greeters who were at the top of every few aisles to help fans, answer questions, etc.)

2) Royals have severly reduced their usher staff. Used to be an usher for every aisle, now, in some areas, one usher is covering a larger section. This means that many of the ushers that used to work regularly now are only needed for 10 or 15 games a year.

3) Royals started opening the gates an hour before the game instead of an hour and a half. According to several ushers I know, this was done to prevent usher overtime on homestands where 7 games fell within one week. The extra half-hour a game tends to keep their weekly hours just under 40 for the week.

4) Royals have their ushers collect plastic soda and beer bottles about the 7th inning or so. They are recycled, I’m told. Love to give them the benefit of the doubt (they’re doing it for the environment would be the argument here); however, I’m cynical enough to believe they are doing it for the recycled value AND the savings from reduced cleanup costs.

I’m sure there are other cost-cutting measures I’m unaware of. Sure, one could argue that it is sensible for them to cut costs – but one could also argue that they are cutting petty items, at the cost of customer service, and during a season when they should earn approximately $40m in profit.

Viewed in this light, maybe Sam’s article IS meaningful. Just perhaps, it is an indication of the TRUE mentality of ownership.

I’ll ONLY be convinced Glass actually wants to win when he makes a meaningful financial commitment, at the appropriate time, to put a near-contending team “over the top”. Is this harsh on my part? I don’t think so. The man has not done nearly enough to earn ANY benefit of the doubt, in my opinion.