The Life And Times Of Mr. 3000:A Novel

Welcome back to Tony's Take! The gag order has been lifted and I'm glad to announce that I hope to be coming to you on a weekly basis with baseball tidbits, and a fluttering of jab's more then likely aimed at the commissioner of the league, heh. Although for the first week, lets keep it light as I give a report on the quaint town of Kansas City.

From being greeted at MCI with a celebrity sighting of Dennis Hof - from the HBO series Cathouse - who seem to be dropping off some talent at a local strip club because I also saw him at the airport on my departure sans the prostitute/stripper. To driving the long-way back to the hotel and seeing Habitat for Humanity hard at work, I'm pretty sure I took in all the sights that KC had to offer. From the she-male sighting to the cop walking around some bushes with his hand on his gun and saying "don't make me shoot you", I received the full cultural display of the midwest town.

I spent Saturday morning visiting the Negro Museum - they make an explicit point in NOT calling it the Hall of Fame. They also held interesting hours as evident by the accompanying photo. For my part there wasn't enough original articles. I'm sure it's a issue of even finding the stuff, but it would be cool if they had an actual game-worn jersey (instead of what looked to be replicas) or some of the original bats and gloves worn. When I did come across some baseballs with Negro League stars autographs, like Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays, I couldn't help but say "got it"!

Kaufmann Stadium is quite a nice, pleasant place to take in a ballgame.....in a minor league sort-of-way. For most of my time spent in the park I felt like I should be watching a Spring Training game, or a AAA game. Maybe it's the open outfield aspect and the fact that the upper deck doesn't extend all the way to the foul poles but the park feels quite small. It definitely played small on Friday night as the White Sox put a whippin' on Brian Bannister. We sat right behind home plate a section over from the scouts so I spent the majority of the game trying to determine who the scouts were monitoring. Was it Clayton Richard? Is Kenny Williams looking to swing a deal??

Saturday afternoon was Negro League day at the ballpark. Got my KC Monarchs jersey which was the giveaway and then watched the ballplayers attempt to manage the bagginess of their throwback uni's. Chicago American Giants vs. the KC Monarchs. Brian Anderson seem to be wearing Cecil Fielder's pants, if Cecil was playing today! Chris Getz meanwhile did his best Cap Anson impression, all he needed was the mustache. Which led me to think - if I was a player and knew a throwback was coming up in a week or two I would definitely grow my facial hair to resemble the time period. I would be sporting the rolled mustache!! And if I was pitching that day I might break out a few arms-swinging, high leg-kick pitches to really get into it. I would definitely play catch before the game, in front of the dugout, in quick-time just like I use to see in the old films from the day. Had front row just beyond 3B for this game which the Sox came back to win in the top of the 9th.



Also....
Ballpark fare was decent. Took in the normal hot dog, cracker jacks, peanuts and beer one night. The other night I had the rib platter in section la-ti-da. For $10.50 I got corn cob, 3 ribs, baked beans, cornbread and burnt ends (a KC thing).
Great scoreboard...HD rocks!
No fights incurred. Although the guy 2 seats next to me had a chance at foul ball that he dropped and it fell to the field. In his defense a guy from 2 rows back came down, into our row and bumped him. That leads me to my question of the day: Is it appropriate to enter a different section/row in an attempt to retrieve a foul ball?