a yearning for old-timey baseball

and by that, i mean 5 years ago.

the picture: spring 2000. sitting at kauffman stadium in kansas city with friends for game 1 of a 3 game april series against the baltimore orioles. the royals had done close to nothing since winning the world series 15 years earlier, and we were just enjoying the weather. after a thrilling 2-run walk-off homerun, we celebrated a great victory.

"didn't they do this last night, too?" a friend asked.

truly, they had done it the night before against the minnesota twins 6-5.

"wow, two in a row. wanna come back tomorrow night?"

"sure."

game 2: final score - royals 7 - orioles 6. rey sanchez's only homerun of the season in the 9th inning. i still remember the announcer on the radio:

"rey sanchez! homerun! what is going on?!"

"unbelievable." i thought. "what are you guys doing tomorrow night?"

game 3: same seats. final score royals 6 - orioles 5. again in walk-off fashion.

4 wins in a row in the last at bat. i had forgotten how much i loved the game. and this team? forget about it. they were a blast to watch. 3 young, future all-stars in the outfield: johnny damon, jermaine dye and carlos beltran. a gritty and upstanding first baseman in captain mike sweeney. a young, promising (pre-injury epidemic) pitching staff. kansas city was all of the sudden a baseball town again. it was awesome.

i've moved since then. the royals now suck again. sweeney is the only player left from that team now that joe randa has signed with the reds. so, i dive headlong into remembrance. i just purchased, via ebay, a jermaine dye #24 royals jersey that completes my set. so this little bit of sunshiney nostalgia can hopefully take my mind off of the current state of my beloved game.

back in 2000, no one cared what BALCO was. the horrendous plague of "corporate naming rights" was just hitting it's swing. new parks like houston's enron field (later to become minute maid park, the worst name for a sporting arena until 2004, see below) san fran's pacific bell park, citizen's bank park in philly and the renaming of new comiskey to *gulp* u.s. cellular field all signalled the downfall of the pride of america's pasttime. it was official: baseball was all about the money.

last year, san diego opened the abomination of all abominations, petco park. we are in trouble.

in recent news, the angels have announced that they are renaming the team the "los angeles angels of anaheim" to extend their appeal. for more on this travesty go here. thanks pace.

now, with randy johnson joining the already gazillion-dollar-payrolled yankees. i can only hope and pray that the mets (a team i root for, but will admit also has a ridiculously large payroll) will take my beloved carlos beltran away from mr. steinbrenner and his sulfurous grasp.

my royals will never be able to hold on to the truly special players because the game has turned into the biggest pile of greedy money grubbers that has ever existed. agents are poisoning young talent and players are so deep into the myth of self-worth that they have forgotten the fans, if not the game entirely.

i can't really even get excited about the red sox (a team which i must adopt to survive...but am okay with that) because they are a big-money club as well and every bit as guilty of buying the good players.

at the very least, i have my memories of a beloved, mediocre team playing their hearts out in a stadium named for a great man, not a corporation (i will mace myself if the k ever changes to hallmark park or some crap like that) back around the turn of the century.

all that said. i still can't wait until april.