End of the Road
It is 2:45 in the morning as I write this from a bus carrying us from the Pittsburgh airport to our hotel. We’ve just arrived from Houston for the final series of a three-city trip and the last road trip of the season.
One final late-night arrival.
The record will show that this has been a disappointing season for the Royals, filled with losses, missed opportunities and expectations that weren’t met. But the record won’t show everything.
It won’t show Opening Day in Atlanta, when we began the first broadcast in Royals.TV history with a piece called “Dear Royals.” My friend Sarah Nauser, a former Kansas City police officer who has ALS, wrote the letter and narrated it through AI voice-cloning technology. The piece has since been nominated for an Emmy.
A few months later, on Lou Gehrig Day in Cincinnati, the Royals answered her. Sarah sat on the field as players and coaches gathered around her to watch “Dear Sarah.” It was emotional for her and all of us surrounding her.
The season began with Sarah’s voice speaking to the Royals. That day, the Royals spoke back.
Lou Gehrig Day in Cincinnati
The record won’t show Josh Rojas starting the day in Triple-A with a hit in Columbus, Ohio, then racing to Minneapolis after being called up. He arrived in time to pinch-hit in the ninth inning of a 6–6 game and drive in two runs to win it in his Royals debut. Two hits, in two cities, in two leagues all in a days work
It won’t fully capture Salvador Perez passing George Brett as the franchise’s all-time home run leader in Detroit, where Salvy also hit his first career home run. Afterward, he joined me for an interview surrounded by teammates who wanted to share the moment.
The record certainly won’t show Salvy attempting his traditional victory “Salvy Splash” in Sacramento, missing Bobby Witt Jr. and drilling Teresa, the security guard, instead. I had never seen the usually stoic Witt laugh so hard.
Nor will it show Salvy trying to catch a rat running through the Fenway Park dugout last weekend. From my seat, it was equal parts comical and gross.
A visitor in the Fenway Park dugout turned catcher Salvador Perez into a rat catcher.
And it won’t show Tyler Tolbert, the most unlikely of record holders, matching an MLB mark with hits in 12 consecutive at-bats. A utility player and base-stealing threat, Tyler is the kind of unsung hero every team has: easy to root for, impossible not to admire and more deserving than anyone of a moment like this.
Those are only a few of the memories I’ll carry home.
Even during a difficult season, stories of perseverance, history, compassion and laughter unfold all around us. Our job is to notice them. I’ve been fortunate to travel the country sharing those stories on television and carrying their lessons onto stages. Nights like this remind me how much I still love doing it.
The standings tell us how the season went.
The stories tell us what it meant.
That’s Small Ball.