NewsRoyals Hall of Fame opens with a bang
Former KC greats take field during celebratory first night
By Rustin Dodd / MLB.com
07/17/09 10:22 PM ET
KANSAS CITY -- George Brett, dressed head to toe in powder blue, leaned back in that familiar batting stance and turned his head toward the pitcher.Willie Wilson took a lead at second and Frank White inched off first. For a second, it almost felt like 1985.
But then Brett, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, rolled into a 4-6-3 double play and slowly jogged back to the dugout.
"I hit it too hard," Brett said as he stepped back down the dugout steps.
Maybe there was some metaphorical lesson here -- something about aging and the fleeting nature of sports stardom.
Nobody seemed to worry about that kind of stuff Friday.
The few thousand fans that flocked to Kauffman Stadium early were more concerned with honoring the Royals' history and tradition. The Royals opened their brand new Hall of Fame to the public, turning the new building beyond the left-field wall into must-see real estate.
And after catching their first glimpses of the 7,000 square feet of exhibit space, fans turned their attention to the field, where Brett, White and Wilson led a group of Royals greats against a team of former Major Leaguers in the Willie Wilson Hall of Fame Classic.
"This is a great experience for me," Brett said, before helping White and Royals vice president of business operations Kevin Uhlich cut the ribbon in front of the new Hall of Fame. "Not only to come back here and relive some of the greatest moments in my life that happened on a baseball field, but to see some of the guys that I shared those moments with."
Brett talked about Steve Busby's no-hitters, Freddie Patek's play at shortstop and former outfielder Amos Otis, who still wanted Brett to call him A.O.
All those greats were on hand for the ceremony. So were fellow Royals Hall of Famers Dennis Leonard, John Mayberry and Jeff Montgomery, and former player and manager John Wathan.
After the pregame ceremony, a long line formed outside the front door to the Hall of Fame.
And from the windows inside the Hall of Fame, you could see the real thing unfolding out on the field below.
Taking on a team led by Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins and former stars George Foster and Dave Stewart, the home team broke out the old powdered blue jerseys.
White manned his old stomping grounds at second, and Mayberry did the same at first. Brett started the game at shortstop, and Wilson roamed center field.
"It reminded me of old times in my brain. But in my body ..." Wilson said, smiling. "It was really good to be out there -- such great players. It would be really nice if we could do this once a year and do it for charity."
There were flashes of brilliance, like when White ripped a double to right-center and Wathan made an athletic play on a foul popup behind home plate. There were also, well, other moments.
"I had a lot of flashbacks," Wilson said. "But I know that running from center field to [the dugout], it wore me out."
The tours continued all game, and fans could walk through exhibits about Brett's 3,154 career hits, three batting titles and his run at batting .400 in 1980. They could look at White's eight Gold Gloves and a Royals flag that used to fly in front of the home of former owner Ewing Kauffman.
Parents could tell stories about the Royals' postseason runs in the late 1970s and early '80s and the franchise's lone World Series title in '85. And a new generation was able to embrace the Royals' glory years.
"The tradition is great," Wilson said. "Hopefully, we can have some of these young guys playing today to be in there some day."
Late in the game, with the former Royals trailing, Brett stepped into the batter's box again. White had just laced his double to right, and Brett, now 56, leaned back into that familiar stance again -- a chance for redemption.
This time, the pitcher delivered and Brett flied out to right. He ran the ball out and quickly jogged back toward the dugout. All he could do was smile and shrug his shoulders.
The former Royals would go on to lose in the five-inning game -- not that it really mattered.
"Even though things haven't gone as great since 1985, we still have a strong, rich tradition of baseball in Kansas City to be proud of," White said. "And hopefully the players that come after us will latch on to that and get us back to where we need to be."
Rustin Dodd is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
