Dedication pays off Fans who go deep

Oct. 19--They don't have the funds or the clout of the New York Yankees. They don't have big stars, either.

But far beyond Kansas and Missouri, it seems, the nation is falling in love with the Kansas City Royals.

Call it a Cinderella story. The Royals, after a 29-year playoff drought, are in the World Series -- the first team to ever win eight straight games to start the postseason. The team's dreamlike season has conjured up childhood memories for some, whether of the hours they listened to Denny Matthews and Fred White on the radio or taking a trip to Kansas City to watch a game at Kauffman Stadium with their family. Others remember the connections the Royals forged with them and their children, their parents and their grandparents -- all because of the love of baseball.

Baseball, after all, doesn't have have political or even religious boundaries. Those on either side of the party line can find common ground with baseball, said Dan Naccarato, a Hutchinson High School teacher and a former coach.

"I think that is one of the beautiful things about Major League Baseball," he said. "It creates a connection whether it is between family and friends or with someone across the country."

And across The Hutchinson News readership area, residents have told us their Royals stories.

Royal therapy

For Hutchinson resident Jerry Regier, the 1985 season was, in a sense, therapy.

Regier, who lived in Leawood at the time, was a Royals season-ticket holder from 1983 to 1988. The year 1985, however, was different -- and not just because the Royals would go on to win the World Series.

"My wife was diagnosed with cancer," he said, adding that a family trip to a Royals game "was therapy. We could go to the games together before she got really bad."

She died in June 1985. But Regier and his 5-year-old son continued the tradition for the remainder of the season.

"We were blessed to have four season tickets 10 rows above the first base dugout, and it became our home away," Regier said. "The Royals were our healing force and now to relive it 29 years later is really kind of special with a lot of mixed emotions."

The 1985 playoffs and World Series were memorable highlights, he said. That included Game 7 when the Royals clinched the title from the St. Louis Cardinals at then-Royals Stadium. He recalls selling two of his tickets to Cardinals fans who had a little too much to drink, got sick and left the game early angry.

Meanwhile, the Regiers lived in a development that had a walking trail that went up to the backyards of the neighborhood homes -- including George Brett's.

"Brett lived in our neighborhood and if he was outdoors when we were walking the trails behind our homes, he would always take time to engage my son and one time he gave (a) button to my son," Regier said. "He really liked kids and he always wanted to talk to my son."

Regier figures it is one of a kind because the round button with Brett's picture is numbered.

Memorable birthday

John Holthus, owner of Four Seasons Realtors in McPherson, remembers the night when "George Brett hit his high-water mark" for a batting average in 1980.

His oldest child, Hannah, was born around that same time, Aug. 27, 1980.

"That was in a time when Mom and baby stayed in the hospital for a few days," he said. "I'd hold her and watch the games."

Watching and listening to the team this season has been exciting, he said. "And they have captivated the nation, too, and it is really fun to see that."

"I'm very proud to say I've been a loyal listener and follower even during the rough times," he said. "There is something romantic listening to a baseball game in the summertime."

A fan of the Royals and Carl Yastrzemski

When the World Series airs this week, the dress code at Sheila Metzger's office will be jeans and a Royals T-shirt.

After all, she has long been a true blue fan, even during the down years, the Hutchinson American Family Insurance agent said. The Royals have been a lifelong passion for her and her brother Don Reif, a Hoisington attorney, since they were growing up on the farm near Hoisington.

"I remember listening to them on the AM radio as a little girl, and my mom and dad had the games on when they were on television."

During the 1985 World Series, "I was 12 years old," she said. "And I will never forget it."

Now Metzger is one of the sponsors of Royals games on KWBW.

Reif, however, admits he grew up loving both the Royals and the Boston Red Sox.

"When I was a little boy, my favorite player was Carl Yastrzemski," he said of the Red Sox legend.

But it was the Royals he listened to the most.

"I can remember as a boy being on a farm tractor listening to Denny Matthews and Fred White," he said of the radio announcers, with White passing away several years ago. "I'm excited Denny still calls games. It brings back childhood memories."

When he goes to Royals/Red Sox games at Kauffman Stadium, he wears a Royals T-shirt and a Red Sox hat.

Reif was in Washburn law school in 1985. He and his friends went to Kansas City to watch Game 7, frequenting the then-popular hangout of Westport. It ended up being a very late night and they missed class the next day.

On Tuesday, he and Metzger and her 8-year-old son Hunter were at Game 3 against Baltimore.

"Oh my, it was so loud and fun," Metzger said. "Everyone around us was having a good time. There were other kids there -- it didn't matter what age you were."

"It brings those of us who are old enough, it brings us back to the glory days of the 1970s and the 1980s -- of George Brett and Frank White and Willie Wilson," Reif said.

Cheering in Heaven

Erin Morton, Lyons, swears she could hear her grandmother cheering down from Heaven when the Royals clinched the American League championship against Baltimore.

"She was their biggest fan," Morton said.

In fact, Morton, said, she doesn't remember a time when Grandmother Lois Kohls, who lived in Ellsworth, wasn't a fan.

"I asked my uncle, and he said she was always a Royals fan, but especially when George Brett started playing. She loved George Brett," Morton said.

"When she found out she had cancer, and we wouldn't have her very much longer, she said, 'I want to go see my Royals play one last time with my family by my side.' So that is exactly what we did."

Morton said before she died, her grandmother wrote a letter to Morton's mother, Carla, and Carla's siblings, telling them she wanted to be buried with a picture of Morton and her brother, Andy, and a photo of George Brett.

"I wish I could share this World Series with her like I did in 1985," Morton said.

World Series-bound

For Inman resident Jon Brown, the Royals are bringing back childhood memories.

"This is a dream -- I can't believe this is real," he said.

Brown grew up watching the Royals on television, and his family attended a few games each year. He was in elementary school when the team won the World Series.

"I remember all of us just jumping around the house like we had just won the lottery," he said.

Brown, who works at MKC, has always loved baseball, playing it in high school and recently starting a club baseball and softball organization -- the Central Kansas Crushers -- along with an indoor practice facility in Inman. He noted he incorporated his love of the Royals in the organization's colors, which are white and royal blue.

"I've even been a fan even when they were really bad," he said, adding he has an enormous Royals collection in his basement, which includes autographs and at least 100 baseballs and several bats. He is now a season-ticket holder and has attended all the playoff games at Kauffman Stadium, taking his wife, Amber, and their five children.

Brown said he's always optimistic about the Royals' chances at the start of every season, even this year when the Royals led the division, fell back and then took it back over again.

"We have one of the best defenses in the major leagues," Brown said. "The good thing about defenses -- they are not hot and cold. Our defense, every night, there is a highlight being made by somebody."

He took his son, Carter, 11, to Wednesday's clincher that garnered the team the World Series berth. He has five tickets to the World Series games in Kansas City.

But with a family of seven, he needs two more, he said.

Earlier this week, standing-room-only tickets were selling for about $800 each.

Her wardrobe is Royals shirts

"I'm a diehard Royals fan and have been since the early '70s," said Hutchinson resident Dana Shimel. "I have always had a Royals tag on my car, I probably wear a Royals shirt 90 percent of the time and my basement holds Royals memorabilia that I've collected over the years."

She also has been to many Royals caravans during the winter where players come to different towns and talk and sign autographs. Through that, she's met Paul Splittorff, Dennis Leonard and Denny Matthews.

Every year she goes to one game and buys a yearbook, which adds to her collection.

"I could go on and on," she said. "My favorite player was Freddie Patek, but there's many that are my favorites -- Brett, White, Mark Teahen and Jim Eisenreich. Right now, I like Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain a lot."

Her 18-year-old daughter, Allison, loves the team as much as she does.

"I'm a very excited 51-year-old lady who loves KC baseball," Shimel said, adding she wished she could afford a World Series ticket. "I'm a fan and always will be."

Traveling America's highways with the Royals

It's not lonely driving the nation's highways during the summer for trucker Tim Smith. Most days, he has the Royals.

"I've watched or listened to more than 100 games this season," the McPherson resident said."If you think back to 50 or 60 years ago, that was the only way people followed the World Series was on the radio," he said. On the night of the wild-card game against the Oakland Athletics, Smith, who works for Great Plains Trucking, parked for the night at a truck stop hoping to watching some of the game.

"These ... truckers were watching a rerun of CSI," he said. A bit miffed, Smith got back in his truck and tuned into reliable Denny Matthews. Despite a few crime show fanatics, Smith said through his national travels, he has witnessed others rallying around an underdog team that has had so many bad years.

"Everybody I've run into says they are rooting for them," he said, adding they tell him the team has had bad luck so long, they want to see the Royals win it.

Smith will be tuning into the Royals on his truck's satellite radio next week, too, he said. He's hauling a load to Canada.

Baseball nerd

When it comes to watching baseball, Hutchinson High School'sDan Naccarato considers himself "the biggest nerd in Hutch."

He has the radio on, as well as the television. He has a running thread with friends and family via text messages. And he has a computer and tablet turned on so he can keep up with social media commentary.

"I tend to have four or five different text message threads going with my four older brothers -- a couple different groups of friends," he said. "My phone sounds like an xylophone. It's constantly ringing as we are all exchanging banter.

"With the social media, it is a wonderful vehicle to share frustration and jubilation."

Moreover, baseball connects people -- no matter their views or upbringings.

"The thing about sports -- whether it is youth sports, middle school, high school or pro, it connects people. You see people making lifelong friendships because they see something common with the people playing a sport. You have people with fierce convictions, and once you can get them talking about baseball -- especially if it is the same team -- they are suddenly arm and arm."

A longtime Royals fan, Naccarato grew up watching the team with his dad, he said. These days, he watches and attends games with his own children, including 29-year-old son Luke, who was 2 months old when the 1985 Royals team won the World Series.

He recalls having his son dressed in Royals gear.

"He probably doesn't remember," Naccarato said with a laugh.

Now, 29 years later and living in Kansas City, his Royals-loving son "is really getting to experience October," he said.

As for the World Series, Naccarato doesn't plan to do anything different. He'll be in front of his television and his computers, his phone in hand, watching the games.

"I don't think I want to change anything," he said. "I tend to get superstitious -- do things the way we've been doing it. I may not change my socks."

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