The 2017 Royals Review Fan of the Year

The honeymoon of the championship season is over. The bandwagon has crashed. The Royals may be coming to the end of an era, which means we may find out who the truly dedicated fans of this team really are.

But Kansas City is a terrific sports town, and there are some truly remarkable fans of the Royals that we thought warranted some recognition. And Paul Rudd can’t win. Here are your top Royals fans.

The Runner-ups

Michael Wheeler is a fixture at Kauffman Stadium - you may know him as “Royals Superman.” Always adorned in a Superman cape, he jogs around the stadium and is frequently given free tickets from fans to spread his cheer inside the K. You may not know that Wheeler is a Vietnam vet and returned to Kansas City to work with anti-violence groups to combat drugs and crime in the inner city. The Royals may struggle to get runs some days, but Wheeler always gets his runs in.

We knew the Royals had international appeal, evidenced by Korean superfan Sung Woo Lee who visited the team back in 2014. But apparently their reach stretches to merry old England as well. Nath Curtis has been a fan of the Royals - no, not those old coots in Buckingham Palace - since 1985, when his father visited Kansas City and returned with Royals gear. He got to visit the team once in 1997, but returned this year to a much different team, and a much different attitude.

This guy. This guy here! He caught a baseball! In a tub of popcorn! That’s not what popcorn tubs are for!

Heidi Gardner is just the latest Kansas Citian who will be hamming it up on Saturday Night Live, following in the footsteps of David Koechner and Jason Sudeikis. The Royals fan joined the cast this year after starring with The Groundlings and making a name for herself on Youtube. Hopefully we’ll see her repping Royals gear on SNL!

Nine-year old Emily Roots was born without a left-arm, but uses a prosthetic arm adorned in Royals logos. The Hangar Clinic arranged for her to meet Ned Yost and her favorite team, the Royals, a dream come true for Emily and nine other families.

Alicia Blair is probably well known to many Royals fans on Twitter as @KC_Goddess29. She’s good for funny quips about the team and even a good photoshop now and then. But she put her humor and art skills towards a good cause when she designed an “It’s a Bear Suit, Joel” shirt in honor of Danny Duffy with the proceeds to go towards Noah’s Bandage Project. Duffy found the shirts pretty gnar, and Alicia’s pretty gnar too.

Royals fan Josh Harrold didn’t let any animosity from the 2014 World Series get in the way of helping a Giants fan in need. His friend, Kelly van den Berghe, had polycystic kidney disease, and needed a new kidney. Harrold really stepped up in the clutch and volunteered one of his own. Of course, he made sure she knew she was getting a “Royal Kidney.” And now she’ll be “Forever Royal.”

The 2017 Royals Review Fan of the Year

Though he resides in Chicago, Jeremy Scheuch is one of the bigger Royals fans you’ll find. He grew up in Kansas City, a huge Royals fan and is now an avid memorabilia collector who purchased the “wrong cap” that Edinson Volquez wore in Game One of the 2015 World Series. He is pretty recognizable from his facial hair and gained some notoriety for attending the game in Chicago in 2014 where the Royals clinched their first playoff berth since 1985.

While he didn’t get a chance to attend a post-season clinching game this year, he perhaps got the next best thing?

Jeremy is an artist who has produced Royals-themed artwork on his site, www.jeremyscheuch.com. You have probably seen a lot of it on his Twitter feed, @jeremyscheuch.

But this year Jeremy has taken his internet notoriety and used it to help those in need. Together with his partner Danielle Colby, the co-star of History Channel’s American Pickers, and his friend Carlos Tirado, they have worked tirelessly to help rebuild the island of Puerto Rico following the devastation of Hurricane Maria. Not only have they raised tens of thousands of dollars for relief, but they have gone down twice to the island to personally work on repairing houses.

Jeremy best embodies the enthusiasm, cheekiness, and generosity of spirit of Royals fans. And for that, we honor him as our 2017 Royals Fan of the Year. For recognition of his work, we pledge $100 to his Go Fund Me page that will bring relief supplies to Puerto Rico, and we encourage you to give what you can with a minimum suggested contribution of $17.38. You can also donate directly to La Casa De Todos though their PayPal at amigosdelacasadetodos@gmail.com.

Congrats Jeremy! And we’ll see you at the ballpark next year!