As someone that has been a baseball (specifically Kansas City Royals) fan most of my life since adolescence, let me begin by saying that I’m aware that it is “just a game.” Sports of all types have that duel position in the pantheon of life of being a pastime that seems to mean everything to so many people when in such a flawed world, it should mean less than the rest.
Sports though can hold up a mirror to a society and its values. Baseball specifically has preceded the nation on many things like equal rights for example, with Jackie Robinson initiating integration more than a decade before civil rights started to make headlines. Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary did a fantastic job of detailing how America’s pastime has weaved through our culture, so this is not going to be a major rehash of the themes in his fantastic series.
Instead I want to specifically talk about Kansas City’s team and how deeply they impacted our community last year in positive ways with some recent news compounding this. The Royals club in 2015 entered into a realm of modern hero making in a narrative of personal closeness among the teammates that infected the entire city and unified residents – 800,000 out of a population of 2 million residents came out for the celebration parade. That is unprecedented in Kansas City; and among the largest turn-outs for this type of celebration in the U.S.
In fact, we got to this point with this club after a complete one-eighty in how the team has been managed in the past. To me the story represents the contrast in the two ways sports organizations can approach the way they manage their business and the rewards they can reap if they act like they care about their employees and community.
Unless you have been living on a remote desert island or a cave, you know that the Kansas City Royals won the World Series this past season after losing Game 7 in 2014. What you may not know, unless you’re a fan, is the history of the team over the last 30 years; or then, the reputation of this current team as “tight” on a personal level.
First, the history. Kansas City won only its second World Championship thirty years after they won their first in 1985. The years in between were mostly filled with losing records and fan-resignation that as soon as a player became recognized as being good he would be lured away to greener pastures by a team that could offer them more money and a shot at playoff contention.
All that started to change a few years ago as the Royals had their first winning record in 2013 since ten years prior, but even then, 2003 was an anomaly. Until a few years ago, we were known as the “major league farm club” for the rich teams that could peel off our good players.
They reached winning times with a team of mostly young men that had come up together in our farm system. The Royals became popular again in this town, however, not just because they started to win, but it was clear that they were having fun while they were doing it. They enjoyed playing the game together and the team’s leadership brass publicly discussed the importance of sportsmanship and comradery.
Players that came into this environment at later dates would remark on the unique closeness of the team. This workplace environment of selfless playing and team first generated good will within the club itself.
This year, in fact, the team’s marketing department used this reputation as a reason to come out to more games. The notion that this was a tight-knit team that was just having fun – a “band of brothers” was pushed to sell tickets. Understandably this is a business, the pro teams are here to entertain and make money.
But how you make that money can mean the difference between struggling to be successful versus experiencing dazzling contagious success.
Baseball as a business was changed forever when free agency rules went into effect in the early 1970’s when a Cardinal’s player Curt Flood sued to prevent being traded to a team he saw as residing in a racist community; and just the fact that he didn’t want to change his life and move his family. His contention that the permanent contract situation players had before this change made players indentured servants that never had any control over their careers ever. They essentially were controlled by one ball club until they were traded without any legal input from the player to another team for the duration of the player’s career.
This is understandably wrong. The rules were changed to allow this type of team control only up to the end of initial contract, entered after the draft for example, and then a player became a free agent and could see what type of best offer he received for a new job with a new team.
What is ethically right though wasn’t necessarily good for baseball in that the old school way of a team staying virtually in-tact, like the classic New York Yankees of legend – Ruth, Gehrig plus “Murderers’ Row” of hitters – was a team of the past, as now teams rotated the best players in and out of the organization. Once a team became a winning club with new stars you could bet that these players would capitalize on their big pay day once they came into free agency. By now it’s common knowledge that rich, big market teams can afford the big bucks and small markets struggle to keep up.
To reiterate, this was the Royals’ management modus operandi for decades after the early nineties when the new owner, David Glass of Wal-Mart riches, took over. The city could only watch as it seemed the team was always operated with as little investment as possible and tried to coast on the nostalgia of the 1970 and 80’s winning teams. Any new player that achieved success would be gone and we were forced to fall in love all over again with new players only to see them leave as well. Many times, the marketing promotion used the star power of the team coming into the Kauffman Stadium to sell tickets – not a lucrative formula.
Fast forward to this year as we now have our band of brothers which image was tested as one of our key franchise players entered free agency. Alex Gordon, a premium left outfielder that represented the team to so many fans, appeared on the brink of leaving. Would the team’s general manager, Dayton Moore, let him go without any sort of competitive offer or would he fight to keep the one of the core “brothers” in the club? Would Gordon attach any value to his hometown team?
As I saw it, would the fact that 800,000 people came out to see the players glide by in their convertibles through a rain of confetti mean anything to either the player or the club?
I am happy to say that apparently it did. As the Kansas City Star put it so well:
“…there is some sheer beauty in the re-signing of Gordon, a symbol and pillar of the team’s growing pains and revival and ultimate triumph who surely will be in its Hall of Fame one day.
“It’s a reassuring moment from a bygone era, when star players might be expected to play their entire careers in one place and further perpetuate the ties between a team and its community.
“And whatever else might have derailed this, it still happened because of the mutual respect — even admiration — that characterized how both sides treat each other.”
Which brings me to some questions I ask myself regularly. First, how much does work environment count in our country as a measure of success? Throughout the negotiations the main meme was that if Gordon received a better offer he should take it. My question to that is: why? If the Royals were so fun to work for, why mess with that? Within their bubble of relatively big money compared to the rest of us in the trenches, perhaps it’s a in a pro-sports player’s culture to display the biggest contract with the most millions, but when the dust settles will they still be as happy? What is one’s personal measure of success when looking at the pleasure of living day to day? (Yes, one can argue that players make ridiculous money for playing a game, but sport and the athlete have been up on a pedestal since the dawn of civilization; this is not something I’m interested in exploring here.)
On the flip side has this club finally realized that rewarding the massive baseball fan base means more money in ticket sales and merchandise? That maybe letting a key player slip through their fingers is not the best public relations? The crowds were tremendous at the park this year – what is that worth?
And to digress for a minute, what is it worth a large for profit company in general to more respectful and integral in their community? I see a parallel where maximum profit at any cost – low-pay/high turn-over; and a cynical disregard for the environment – negatively impacts their communities on a daily basis. When I pull the focus back to the broader picture of life in America I feel that the companies that approach their community with the same level of respect; and are financially demonstrative towards their employees are the most successful in the long run. The maximum profit at any cost is a bleak way to run things.
A professional sports club is unique in that it has ties to its community, but unlike a college team, the threat of it picking up and moving lurks in the background. There is a bit of a social contract of suspended disbelief in that the fans pretend this reality will never come to their town and the sports organization pretends that there may never be a day when it wants to leave it. When a beloved star moves for more money the door to this stark reality opens a little to let in this harsh light – the ties to community can be tenuous; and cynicism wins. (Personally, I feel that all professional sports clubs should follow the Green Bay Packer's model and be majority owned by its city, but that is another blog.)
So for a day, our team in our town and one of its star players (Gordon on the deal: “At the end of the day, my heart has been and … always will be in Kansas City,”) showed the world that a different reality is possible. That this team that plays so joyously and beautifully together will stay together to play in another season. This reality will come under great stress in two years when practically the whole remaining core of players that came up together in the minors will be up for free agency. I am not naive in thinking that this organization will be able to afford all their salary increases; or that every player will be willing take a “home town discount”, but they should seriously consider doing so because in the end its only money; and what could be left on the table may be worth way more than a few extra mil.
For me, I will at least always have the memory of celebrating on a beautiful day this past November with 800,000 of my fellow residents from all walks of life, when we all forgot about our troubles for a few hours and celebrated this bond in our community. If only life in America could always feel this cohesive.