March 26- Kansas City Royals

I need to apologize first and foremost for such a late post this evening, but I assure you it’s for a noble reason. A few days ago I was brought on board with eDraft Sports (@eDraftSports), an online fantasy sports publication and biweekly radio network. Tonight, I submitted my first couple of articles. It was interesting to step away from my first person narrative and get back to a news/feature style of writing. It took me a little bit longer than usual, but it all comes with practice. After all, I didn’t graduate with two Journalism degrees and one English degree from the University of Oregon for nothing.

The Kansas City Royals expanded into the American League during the summer of 1969. I hardly doubt Bryan Adams had the Royals in mind when he wrote the tune of the same name; then again, Bryan Adams is Canadian, and not only that he was also born in 1959. What the hell did he know about the life of a high schooler in the “Summer of ‘69”? Wow! I got really off topic. Anyway, from 1969-1994 the Royals donned the same royal blue cap with a white “KC” logo affixed to the front panels. Tonight, I will not be talking about that cap. Instead, I’ll be discussing the first alternate cap in the history of the Royals franchise. This one…

From 1995-1999 the Royals primarily wore this cap on the road to pair with their grey jerseys and pantaloons. Throughout that five-year stretch the Royals planned under managers Bob Boone and Tony Muser. Boone was one of those guys who was a hell of a player on the field, but questionable as a manager. During his three year run the team’s best finish came in 1995, his first year as a manager in Major League Baseball, when the team finished in second place in the newly revamped AL Central. Even though the team finished in second place they still finished with a record of 70-74 to give a win percentage of .486, the highest of Boone’s career. Muser proved to be equally as depressing of a manager; never getting the team higher than third place in the AL Central and never attaining a win percentage better than .475. But, while these Royals teams couldn’t compete with the rest of the top tier talent throughout the league, they did however have a lot of up-and-coming young talent making their breaks in the Big Leagues over those five years.

For my markings I decided to go with an old school player and a fresh-faced rookie. I think you’ll agree that while one is a bit unorthodox, he was just one of those guys that never really got his due. So tonight, I have to hook him up.

#17- The first really interesting thing about this guy is that he originally wore #55 from 1989-1995 only to change it to #17 for his last few years with the club (1996-1999). Because the #17 fit within the time period of the cap’s use I decided to mark it using that number. The other reason I marked it with #17 is because this player’s fortune turned for the worst not too long after he made the decision.

Kevin Appier was the ninth overall draft pick in the 1987 amateur draft out of Fresno State. He made his debut in 1989, but made his rookie campaign in 1990 at which he went 12-8 as a starter with a 2.76 ERA and 127 strikeouts. His performance on the season was good enough for a third place finish for the AL Rookie of the Year award. In 1991 and 1992 Appier went 28-18 while in 1993 he had the best season of his career going 18-8 with a League best 2.56 ERA and a third place finish in the AL Cy Young voting. 1994 proved to be a mediocre year as he went 7-6 while in 1995 he went 15-10 with a 3.89 ERA and a trip to his first and only All-Star Game.

In 1996 everything seemed to change for Appier, but he still managed to have a decent season with a 14-11 record, a 3.62 ERA and a career best 207 strikeouts. If you go back and really crunch the data I have laid out you will see that in a seven-year time frame Appier never had a sub-.500 record. And for a guy pitching for the Royals during those days it was kind of unheard of, and yes, this is even taking Brett Saberhagen’s stats into consideration as his worse year was the year of Appier’s Rookie of the Year campaign in 1990, and Saberhagen’s final year with the Royals was in 1991. But that’s all stuff that will be talked about down the road.

Before the start of the 1997 season Appier signed a long-term deal with the Royals as they promised him they would become more competitive. The reality is that Appier could have signed with anyone. As I mentioned above, with his numbers and with that team he could have been veritable force with any other ball club. Unfortunately for Appier the 1997 season proved to be one of his worst as he went 9-13; however, things took an even bigger turn when he had to have surgery for a torn labrum during the 1998 season. Appier came back strong in 1999, but the rest of the team played sub-par. Appier asked for a trade and ended up getting his wish before the trade deadline. In short, that’s the story of how Kevin Appier joined the Oakland Athletics.

All kidding aside, Appier has gone down as probably one of the most underrated pitchers of all time. I’m not saying Hall of Fame worthy, I’m merely saying underrated. After the Royals Appier spent a year-and-a-half with the A’s, one year with the New York Mets in 2001 before they traded him to the Anaheim Angels for Mo Vaughn in 2002 and in 2003 was traded back to the Royals for what turned out to be the final two years of his career. During his run in the Show Appier went 169-137 with a 3.74 ERA and 1994 strikeouts. Honestly, that’s like Top-100 starting pitchers of all-time numbers right there.

#36- This is another one of those interesting moments when the changing of a kersey number came off as more confusing, but it “helped” out in the long run. Carlos Beltran was a second round draft pick by the Royals out of Puerto Rico in the 1995 amateur draft. He made his debut during the 1998 season, but made his splash in 1999 when he went .293/22/108 which won him the AL Rookie of the Year award, a feat that only four players in Royals history have accomplished. Lou Piniella, Bob Hamelin and Angel Berroa were the other three. However, as quickly as this hat faded into obscurity at the end of that season, so did the #36 when he opted for #15 for the rest of his Royals, Houston Astros, Mets and San Francisco Giants career. The only other major accomplishment that Beltran obtained in Kansas City was a trip to the All-Star Game during the 2004 season, at which he was traded to the Astros shortly thereafter.

Beltran’s career was exponentially better after leaving Kansas City as he made six more All-Star appearances between the Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals (wearing #3) and won three Gold Gloves with the Mets from 2006-2008. Beltran is also won of eight players to hit at least 300 home runs and steal at least 300 bases. Who are the other seven? Go back and read my Arizona Diamondbacks piece from January 14 for the answer.

February 24- Kansas City Royals

It’s so good to be back home, back to the familiar. But mostly it’s great to be back with my large assortment of hats. I realize that being so attached to a material possession is probably not a good sign, but they give me a feeling of comfort at the start and end of all of my days. It’s the same for anyone who collects anything really: coins, baseball cards, Hot Wheels cars, or even severed heads. Wait, what!? Sorry. But you get what I’m saying.

Last night was interesting to say the least. I started this blog as sort of a personal mission to not only educate everyone about something that’s important to me, as well as help keep me in a better habit of writing every single day. Not only was I able to talk about a hat, I was also able to tell a detailed story about someone very important to me. Granted, I could have made the tale much longer, but I didn’t want to bore anyone. That is another challenge of this journey, let alone for any writer; keeping the audience coming back and growing. My viewership has jumped significantly this month. At the end of January I was averaging a little over 100 viewers a day. Now I’m bringing in around 150 a day. Something I am truly thankful for from all of you.

So with that, it’s back to business.

I’m not the biggest fan of taking the bus, but when you’re left with little to no choice, the idea sounds much better than walking 110 miles back to your house. My parents bummed me $50 and I was able to snag a ticket for $18. Luckily it was at night, so I didn’t have to worry about being chatted up too much by a random stranger with something hanging out of their nose. I propped my head against the window and kung fu gripped my computer just in case. After two and a half hours I was back on Eugene soil, with my friend Jared Clark waiting to pick me up. My original plan was to head straight home and crash, but I couldn’t forget to do my post tonight. Instead, I had him take me home to grab a new hat and then drive me on down to the library to crank this sucker out.

I picked this cap up some time in April after we got our first stipend check for our “work” at the MLB Fan Cave. My first order of business was going across the street to pick up all the hats I salivated over at the New Era Flagship shop across the street, as well as raiding the Lids Web site for a few hats I had my eye on for a few months. This was not one of those hats in the purge… sort of. Anytime I bought hats through the Lids Web site I always had them delivered to the shop three blocks away from the Fan Cave because it was free. When I went in for my first shipment I saw this guy kicking it at the top of the rack. I shuffled through all of the 7 3/8s and pulled at the one the fit the lowest to my head. I was such a happy kid when I left with me large box, but so overprotective on the trek back. There was no way I was letting any dubious roughians get there mitts on my wares.

Anyway, the Kansas City Royals wore this cap from 2002-2005, and it was also the hat used by a Bakersfield club team when I was growing up called the Kern County Royals. Clever. 2002 and 2005 were very interesting years for the Royals organization as five managers shuffled through in just those two years alone. Tony Muser, John Mizerock and Tony Pena in 2002. Tony Pena, Bob Schaefer and Buddy Bell in 2005. During that stretch the Royals only finished with less than 100 losses once in 2003 when they went 83-79 to finish in third place in the American League Central during Tony Pena’s first full year at the helm. Despite the rough outings, the Royals had a few bright spots in those years in the form of a few up-and-coming stars, as well as a few guys giving it their last hurrah.

#4- Here’s a name that will take you back, Angel Berroa! He was originally an amateur signed by the Oakland Athletics in 1997, but didn’t make his MLB debut until 2001 with the Royals. In his first two seasons Berroa played a total of 35 games, but it was in 2003 where he made his mark. The Royals have only had four Rookie of the Year award winners in their history dating back to 1969: Lou Pinella (1969), Bob Hamelin (1994), Carlos Beltran (1999) and Berroa in 2003. In 2003 Berroa had his only truly notable year on record by going .287/17/73 and 21 stolen bases in 158 games at shortstop. It should be noted that Berroa beat out Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira for the award that year.

#11- With four World Series rings under his belt, Chuck Knoblauch ended his career in 2002 after playing only one season with the Royals. Despite being a career second baseman Knoblauch filled in throughout the outfield and as the team’s designated hitter in 80 games going .210/6/22. I was 19 at the time and for some reason this always seemed really weird to me. I had witnessed all four of Knoblauch’s World Series victories, and couldn’t understand why or how he ended up in Kansas City. The thing that I will always be grateful to him for is that he always got my streak started in MLB.com’s Beat the Streak. My longest record is a modest 12, but Knobby was the guy who started it all for me. Thanks Chuck!

#29- 2002-2005 was an especially baller time period for Mr. Royal himself Mike Sweeney. Talk about a guy who never really got his due, but went out every day and played his guts out; Sweeney became a household name at the start of the 2000 season when he made his first of four consecutive All-Star game appearances, but 2002 was one of the best seasons he ever had. 2000 was hands down his best offensive production year on record; however, in 2002 Sweeney had his best average of his career when hit .340 in 126 games. Now, he hit .333 in 2000 with 159 games under his belt, but hey; I’m the writer here. Sweeney tagged 24 homer runs and knocked in 86 runs in the process, giving him a respectable 20^th place spot in the American League MVP voting.

Yup! Those were some unfortunately mediocre years for the Royals, but it’s always good to look on the bright side of things.

February 4- Kansas City Royals

Looking back on the history of hats in Major League Baseball, I found it kind of odd that this was the first predominantly baby blue ever worn. Now, before you argue with me on this, keep in mind that the St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers and Montreal Expos only wore powder blue uniforms, not hats. Still have an argument? Well, you could argue that the Tampa Bay Rays batting practice hat could qualify; therefore, no On Field caps have been that shade of blue prior to the 2010-2011 Royals alternate hat. (Bases covered!)

Personally I’ve never really been that big of a fan of powder/baby blue as I’ve always associated it the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team. And UNC is certainly high on my “teams I will always hate” list, right underneath the New York Knicks, but above the Minnesota Twins. So, with only having a two-year window to commemorate, it actually made picking numbers to mark my hat with relatively easy.

#4- Alex Gordon had long been projected as the Royals ace in the hole since they drafted him with the second overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft; however, dude pal was certainly not living up to the hype. The “second coming of George Brett” struggled from his rookie year in 2007-2010; both at the plate and on the field. Gordon’s best season came in 2008 when he hit .260 with 16 home runs and 59 RBI. Not exactly killing it, but decent nonetheless. It really wasn’t until the 2011 season that Gordon finally spread his wings and flew. Oddly enough, I was able to pick up Gordon in the 12^th round of my fantasy baseball draft. A pick that would prove to be most effective by season’s end. The Royals were in the midst of bringing up prospect Mike Moustakas at some point during the 2011 season that he moved Alex Gordon to left field early to give him to prepare. Not only did this fill an outfield void, it really boosted Gordon’s confidence. With the pressure off at the hot corner Gordon played like a champion. He posted career numbers at the plate: .303/23/87 and even won a Gold Glove for his service at the 7-spot. Finally, Gordon was living up to the potential that scouts had projected. Plus, he was one of my fantasy MVPs. Good on ya kid!

#35- I had been hearing a lot about Eric Hosmer since he was drafted as the third overall pick back in 2008. Like Gordon, Hosmer was projected to be the next big thing in the American League. Since Gordon was projected to be he next George Brett, I think it’s fair to say that Hosmer was the second coming of Steve Balboni. Roughly a quarter of the way into the season Yost platooned Hosmer in at first base as then first baseman Kila Ka’aihue wasn’t exactly cutting the mustard at the plate. One of the most notable games I recall came during his first trip to Yankee Stadium. On Wednesday, May 11 Hosmer got the start against AJ Burnett. The previous day Hosmer had gone 0-3; however, against Burnett, Hosmer proved he was worthy of the show. Hosmer’s family had come in from Florida for the game, and in the fourth inning, Eric cranked his first career home run. Burnett and all of Yankee Stadium knew it was gone after it went off the bat. Not a bad way to make your family proud. Hosmer continued to hit well the rest of the season, which sent Ka’aihue back down to AAA. Hosmer’s final marks: .293/19/78. Hosmer played in 23 fewer games than Gordon, and when you compare the numbers, you have to tip your cap to the kid. Not a bad 2011 for those two.