Royals Rumblings - News for June 3, 2020

Jeffrey Flanagan continued his look at the best-ever Royals at each position. No surprise at number one lefty starter:

1. Paul Splittorff, 1970-84

...Splittorff emerged in 1973 with a 20-11 mark and a 3.98 ERA while throwing 262 innings. But it really wasn’t until after manager Whitey Herzog arrived in mid-1975 that Splittorff’s career took off. Splittorff won 84 games from 1975-80 with a 3.78 ERA while logging 1,252 2/3 innings.

“When Whitey came in, all of a sudden, there was a credibility there,” Splittorff once said. “He was so popular, so honest, so believable. He was a great fit.”

And Herzog was a great fit for Splittorff, who was one of many key components to the Royals’ rise to national prominence from 1975-85. Later, Splittorff became a tremendously popular Royals television announcer known for his candor.

At the Star, Pete Grathoff rounded up a collection of #BlackoutTuesday posts from Kansas City sports.

A Bleacher Report post ran down the best-kept secrets on every MLB team. Ryan “Sweepy McBroomerton” McBroom was chosen as KC’s. Leigh Oleszczak at KC Kingdom expounded on the pick:

McBroom’s ability to play multiple positions is key, especially right field, as that’s been a position of weakness for the Royals for a long time now. The team is also waiting for Nick Pratto to get to the majors and until then, they need a first baseman. O’Hearn won’t be handed the job this year and McBroom very well could steal it from him in 2020.

When looking at the Kansas City Royals’ roster and talking about the 2020 season (if one does indeed occur), Ryan McBroom isn’t mentioned much. It makes sense that he’d be looked at as a best-kept secret because he has a lot to offer, but didn’t get much of a chance to do so in 2020.

At The Athletic ($), Doug Glanville led an expansive panel discussion with five other Black former MLB players about racism during and after their playing days. I have five (5) 30-day passes to The Athletic if it would help anyone access this. Here’s one story from Torii Hunter:

Hunter: I got that wake-up call quick. I went into my place, the alarm went off for a second and I cut it off. Maybe an hour later, I see cops at my door. I open my door and say, “Is everything OK?” And they said, “Freeze!” With the guns out. You know you’re coming to Torii Hunter’s house. You already know that!

The young guy had his gun down, but the older guy had his gun, and a vein popped out of his neck. I’m on one leg. He said, “Sit the f— down!” I said, “Hey man, this is my house, calm down.” And the young guy is looking at me like, “I think I know this guy.” The other guy still had the gun. And he says, “Is anybody else in the house?” I said, “No one else is in the house. This is my house.” I didn’t say nothing about baseball. And he walked me into the house with the gun in my back, to go upstairs to get my license. And when I showed him my license, the younger guy said, “I knew that was you.” And the guy said, “Who is he?” And he said, “He plays with the Angels.” Then this guy who had the gun on me says, “Oh, I’m an Angels fan. Can you leave me tickets?”

I’m putting this piece on how people are counted as “recovered” from Coronavirus in the baseball section, because it would be relevant if any players get infected.

What this means it is that it is possible to be considered “officially” recovered from a COVID-19 infection, but to still experience lingering symptoms, including fatigue, muscle weakness and shortness of breath, as well as compromised lung, kidney or liver function. These are all symptoms that take time to resolve.

Cubs owner Tom Ricketts repeated his claim that 70% of team revenue comes from gameday money - like tickets and parking fees - but that number has yet to be substantiated by a transparent look at team finances.

David Pinto at Baseball Musings asked some more questions about team finances right now:

I understand that assets can be ill-liquid, and in this environment, a baseball team might have a tough time getting a loan. There is a real possibility that baseball does not recover from this mostly missed season. What if their is a second wave of the virus, or even a third wave next season? What if fans decide they don’t want to sit huddled close together in ballparks any more? If I were running a bank, I would rightly worry about the risk of lending money to teams.

It may come down to owners using their personal wealth to back the teams. I suspect we will find out who really has deep pockets.

Len Dykstra’s reputation is so bad that it is impossible to meet the legal definition of libel against him, says a judge.

Another COVID-19 outbreak at a meatpacking plant - this one in Council Bluffs, where your humble link aggregator lives and works.

Your advice column letter of the week is this letter writer who doesn’t understand why quitting instead of undergoing a performance improvement plan is holding them back in their job search.

A list of movies that help illustrate the racial disparity in criminal justice.

The last person to receive a Civil War-era pension has died, at age 90.

Note: There is not a satisfactory way to compile a body of relevant stories without mentioning the now-worldwide protests of police violence, but “political” content is discouraged from above. As always, all news topics are available for commenting. Reminder that the SB Nation community guidelines have zero tolerance for racism.

Music for today:

Whoops, how’d a second song get in there?