Congratulations and thank you, Royals fans! Congratulations and thank you, Royals fans! This team—our team—took all of us on an incredible ride in 2014. We fell short of our goal of winning the World Series, but it was special to see this team come together and to see this city rally around our players.
Although I began working for the Royals in the summer of 2006, this journey for me really began, as it did for many of you, with the championship teams of the 1970s and ’80s. The Kansas City Royals were the first team that I fell in love with growing up. I was born in Wichita, and although our family moved around the country, I always followed the Royals, thanks largely to the affection my grandmother held for the team and passed along to me.
The championship years culminated with the 1985 season, which I’ll never forget. Dave Larson, a teammate of mine at Garden City Community College, and I watched Game 7 of the World Series from a grassy area between I-70 and the stadium. We were returning to Garden City from Illinois, where we had spent fall break. We thought we’d stop at the stadium and buy tickets for that night’s game. Can you imagine? We thought we could walk up and buy tickets to the final game of the World Series! We quickly found out that we couldn’t afford them, but there were plenty of people watching from the interstate, so we decided to join them. From that spot we could see everything except Lonnie Smith in left field. But to this day, the thing that stood out most was the energy of the crowd. The stadium was electric.
That feeling was duplicated during this 2014 postseason run, from the wild-card game against Oakland through Game 7 of the World Series against San Francisco. Our fans at Kauffman Stadium were amazing. We certainly had a home-field advantage. As important, though, was the excitement all of our fans showed throughout greater Kansas City, the Midwest, and the nation. As an organization we felt that. Our players felt that. On the flip side, the joy, excitement, and energy that this team’s run brought to each of you is special. Really, that’s the essence of professional sports for a community.
More than 10,000 Royals fans attended the season celebration hosted by the team at Kauffman Stadium on October 30. A few brought with creative signs to show their support for the 2014 American League champions. (AP Images)
The 2014 Royals were an exciting team to watch. I think Ned Yost did an outstanding job of creating a close camaraderie between these 25 guys and putting them in a position to win. Was every move he made successful? No, but that’s the way it is for every manager. That’s the way it is for general managers.
When we arrived in 2006, we knew we had to build our farm system while putting a competitive team on the field. We have missed with a few players, but our scouting and player personnel departments have done an incredible job of selecting players who best fit what we are trying to do here. In order to be successful for the long haul, one thing we’ve stressed since Day One is developing homegrown talent and then doing everything we can as a front office to support their efforts in winning.
That was a culmination of what you saw in 2014. Coming out of spring training, knowing that we had made big strides in 2013, we liked this team. We knew we’d likely have to make adjustments with the roster, but we felt key pieces were in place. We didn’t expect it to be all rosy, and it wasn’t. But that’s why this is a team sport—players have to pick each other up. This group of men did that. It was special for me to sit back and watch these guys work toward the common goal of trying to win the World Series.
We fell short of that goal in 2014, but I hope and pray that this is just the beginning of being in a position to compete for a World Series every year.
For now, I hope you’ll relive this wonderful season in Royals baseball through the images and stories Matt Fulks compiled on the following pages. I know I will.
— Dayton Moore, Royals senior vice president, baseball operations/general manager