Happy Opening Day!

The First Opening Day

On April 8, 1969, Major League Baseball returned to Kansas City at 22nd and Brooklyn. American League President Joe Cronin, Missouri Senator Stuart Symington, mayor Ilus Davis and owner Ewing Kauffman were among the 17,688 on hand to witness the Kansas City Royals play their inaugural game at Municipal Stadium. It had been a year since the Kansas City Athletics had packed up and left for the West Coast and Kansas Citians were glad to see baseball back in town.

By the end of the first inning there was no doubt - they were "our Royals" and "our home team"....

-Kansas City Star, April 9, 1969

The Royals fielded a fairly young team for their very first game. Second baseman Jerry Adair was the only player in the starting lineup over the age of 30. The club consisted mostly of rejects from other organizations - "dead end kids" as manager Joe Gordon liked to call them. Thirteen of the twenty-five players on the Opening Day roster were taken in the Expansion Draft.

The "dead end kids" would not be intimidated on Opening Day. Lou Pinella, the first batter in Royals history, got things off to a bang by ripping a double past Twins third baseman Harmon Killebrew. Adair quickly followed with an RBI single to score Pinella, and the Royals took their very first lead 1-0.

Twenty-four year old Wally Bunker got the opening day start on the hill for the Royals against a Twins lineup featuring stars like Killebrew, Tony Oliva, and Rod Carew and future star Graig Nettles. Bunker held his own, allowing just a solo home run to Nettles in the second before being lifted in the sixth following a leadoff single to Carew. Carew would score off reliever Tom Burgmeier and the Twins would add another run in the inning to take a 3-1 lead.

The young Royals would show their moxie by battling back in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, light-hitting catcher Ellie Rodriguez hit a double to the wall in left-center field. Even lighter hitting shortstop Jackie Hernandez hit a grounder to third that the stone-handed Killebrew could not handle, allowing Rodriguez to move to third. Pinch hitter Jim Campanis ripped a single to center to score Rodriguez, moving Hernandez to third.

That brought up the future Rookie of the Year, Lou Pinella. Facing reliever Bob Miller, Pinella ripped his fourth straight hit of the day, to score Hernandez and tie the game at 3-3.

We pitched him different ways,...Pinella swings the bat good. He's aggressive. He had a very good day. When a guy plays like that, you gotta respect him.
-Twins manager Billy Martin

Royals fans that day got more than their money's worth as the game went into extra innings. The Royals were able to load the bases in the bottom of the twelfth courtesy of a single, passed ball, intentional walk, wild pitch, and a second intentional walk. Joe Keough, the Royals leading hitter in spring training at .350, had been sitting for three hours, but was called upon in the twelfth to try and break the deadlock. Keough would hit just .187 that season, but on Opening Day he was a hero. He responded with an RBI single to score Joe Foy and win the game for Kansas City 4-3.

On their first day in the big leagues, the Royals were victorious. They were in first place. They were the pride of the town. Baseball had returned and Kansas City would begin its love affair with the Royals. It would be an affair with mighty highs and embarrassing lows, but every April, Royals fans would return with hope. Here's hoping to a great 2007!

Happy Opening Day!