KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)
-- The Kansas City Royals lost yet again Tuesday, a 4-1 setback in Detroit. With the worst record in the majors, who could fault a fan for taking a nose dive from the bandwagon -- much less selling his allegiance?
Chad Carroll auctioned off 25 years of loyalty to the Royals on eBay on Tuesday, along with jerseys, hats, baseballs and other memorabilia.
And in a spate of irony, faithfulness to a club with one of the smallest payrolls in Major League Baseball sold for a paltry $278.47.
"It really does feel like a big weight has been lifted," Carroll, 34, who lives in Maryland but grew up listening to Kansas City games from his home in Iowa, told The Kansas City Star. "I really can't tell you how good it feels. I really can't."
A group of nine friends bid for Carroll's freedom, splitting the cost and earning the right to select his new favorite team.
They outbid the T-Bones, a minor league team, and saved Carroll from being held hostage by yet another Kansas City franchise. They also outbid Yahoo Sports baseball columnist Jeff Passan, who planned to ask readers to choose the new focus of Carroll's admiration.
"We didn't think it would be right if somebody else got to name his new team," said Dan Young, Carroll's best friend. "We don't know who it's going to be. We just know it's not going to be the Royals anymore."
His friends say they saw it coming.
Year after year, Carroll would adhere to the baseball cliche of "wait 'til next year." He would draft promising young players -- this year it was relief pitcher Ambiorix Burgos -- for his fantasy team. He promised his buddies the Royals would finish third in the division, at the very least.
"Year after year he'd say, 'Next year's going to be our year,"' Young said. "After a while, you could see it. He wouldn't talk about the new guys, and he'd talk more and more about the George Brett era."
After this season's 2-13 start and an 11-game slide, Carroll cut Burgos and his ties to the entire organization. Relics from the Royals' 1985 World Series championship came down, balls signed by Bob Hamelin and Angel Berroa went out the door, and a breath of fresh air wafted in.
Carroll's last game will be May 12, when Kansas City plays Baltimore, and after that his brother will remove the last traces of the Royals from his den.
Team officials claim no knowledge of the sale.
"It started off as a joke," said Carroll, who has taken a shine to the Cleveland Indians. "But now I'm completely serious. Now I can concentrate on other teams in other sports that have caused me pain and misery."
-- The Kansas City Royals lost yet again Tuesday, a 4-1 setback in Detroit. With the worst record in the majors, who could fault a fan for taking a nose dive from the bandwagon -- much less selling his allegiance?
Chad Carroll auctioned off 25 years of loyalty to the Royals on eBay on Tuesday, along with jerseys, hats, baseballs and other memorabilia.
And in a spate of irony, faithfulness to a club with one of the smallest payrolls in Major League Baseball sold for a paltry $278.47.
"It really does feel like a big weight has been lifted," Carroll, 34, who lives in Maryland but grew up listening to Kansas City games from his home in Iowa, told The Kansas City Star. "I really can't tell you how good it feels. I really can't."
A group of nine friends bid for Carroll's freedom, splitting the cost and earning the right to select his new favorite team.
They outbid the T-Bones, a minor league team, and saved Carroll from being held hostage by yet another Kansas City franchise. They also outbid Yahoo Sports baseball columnist Jeff Passan, who planned to ask readers to choose the new focus of Carroll's admiration.
"We didn't think it would be right if somebody else got to name his new team," said Dan Young, Carroll's best friend. "We don't know who it's going to be. We just know it's not going to be the Royals anymore."
His friends say they saw it coming.
Year after year, Carroll would adhere to the baseball cliche of "wait 'til next year." He would draft promising young players -- this year it was relief pitcher Ambiorix Burgos -- for his fantasy team. He promised his buddies the Royals would finish third in the division, at the very least.
"Year after year he'd say, 'Next year's going to be our year,"' Young said. "After a while, you could see it. He wouldn't talk about the new guys, and he'd talk more and more about the George Brett era."
After this season's 2-13 start and an 11-game slide, Carroll cut Burgos and his ties to the entire organization. Relics from the Royals' 1985 World Series championship came down, balls signed by Bob Hamelin and Angel Berroa went out the door, and a breath of fresh air wafted in.
Carroll's last game will be May 12, when Kansas City plays Baltimore, and after that his brother will remove the last traces of the Royals from his den.
Team officials claim no knowledge of the sale.
"It started off as a joke," said Carroll, who has taken a shine to the Cleveland Indians. "But now I'm completely serious. Now I can concentrate on other teams in other sports that have caused me pain and misery."
posted by bundlebox at 12:25 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home