Stadium Preview: Part VI

What originally fueled the B4B idea was to visit each major league baseball stadium across the country. Now that our dreams will become reality beginning in 2012, we will want to share our greatest experiences with followers of our journey. We’ll report on fan devotion, best concessions, most memorable park moment in history and video blogging each 7th inning stretch the B4B crew will sing along to all season. We really want our readers to experience each stadium along with us.

Over the next few months, the B4B blog will be providing previews of each major league stadium. We will give some historical background, along with plenty of pictures. We would love to get fans perspective on each park as well, so please provide feedback on your favorite stadium on facebook and twitter. Our posts will take us from the oldest stadium all the way to the brand new Marlins Stadium. We hope you enjoy.

Kauffman Stadium

Kauffman Stadium is home to the Kansas City Royals. “The K,” as it’s affectionately known, is the sixth oldest stadium in the major leagues, and it is named after founding owner and Kansas City philanthropist Ewing Kauffman. The stadium was built at a time when other cities were building very generic multi-use stadiums that are now obsolete. Kauffmann Stadium was the last baseball-only park built in the majors from 1966 to 1991.

In 1967, voters in Kansas City approved building the Truman Sports Complex, which featured a football stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs and a baseball stadium for the Kansas City Athletics. At the time, conventional wisdom was that baseball-specific and football-specific stadiums weren’t commercially viable on their own. Obviously, the conventional wisdom at the time wasn’t very wise; state-of-the-art stadiums have shown to be HUGE revenue generators in the years since the Truman Sports Complex was built. Inexplicably, the A’s owner moved the franchise to the generic multi-use stadium in Oakland, CA. Missouri politicians immediately began using political will to convince MLB to give Kansas City an expansion team.

It worked! The Royals began play at Municipal Stadium in KC in 1971 and moved over to originally-named Royals Stadium with a win over the Texas Rangers on April 10, 1973. Barely a month into its existence, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels christened the park with his first of seven no-hitters on May 15, 1973. Other than that, the Royals had great success in their first decade in the stadium. They went to the World Series in 1980 and won the World Series in 1985.

The K’s best known physical feature is the fountain and water display in the outfield. At 322 feet, it is the largest privately-funded fountain in the world. The fountains are on display before and after the game and in-between innings, while the waterfalls are constantly flowing.

 

Maintaining the waterfall display was a major point of emphasis when the stadium was recently renovated. The renovations were completed prior to the 2009 season with the fountains remaining, additional outfield seats and concourse added, high definition video screen installed, new restaurants*, and much wider concourses in the rest of the park. It is really a very enjoyable place to catch a game, and reviews I’ve heard are only positive.

*Barbeque, KC does it the best!

 

Kansas City has a very rich tradition with Negro League baseball. One of the Negro League’s great ambassadors, spokesperson, and story tellers, Buck O’Neil, called Kansas City his home throughout his life. When Buck passed away in 2007*, the Royals had a red seat placed where Buck would sit at every game, and honor him by selecting a community member who embodies his spirit. It is a very good way to recognize one of the greatest men in the game of baseball. Buck would have turned 100 years old in a few weeks, and B4B is planning a special blog post about him. 

*Joe Posnanski wrote a great article about Buck’s passing here. 

The 2012 All-Star Game is in Kansas City. B4B cannot wait to see home runs splash in the fountains. Check out our facebook and twitter to see all of activities we have planned that week.