When Johnny Damon returned to the Kansas City Royals as a visitor—first after being traded to the Oakland Athletics and later after signing with the Boston Red Sox in free agency—he was booed mercilessly. The affable, dopey-faced kid with endless talent had once been pegged as “the face of the franchise,” and yet there he was, first in primary green and yellow and later in navy and red.
And maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t previously gone out of his way to pretend that he wanted to stay in KC. The vitriol mostly stemmed from just that: his constant assurance that he planned on being a Royal for life, and that maybe he’d even take less money to do so.
But it wasn’t to be.
Kansas City was never willing or able to offer the kind of money Boston did, so his legacy was cemented as a deserter and a liar.
Carlos Beltran left too, first heading to Houston in a mid-year trade, then on to New York where he signed a massive contract with the Mets. He didn’t return as a visitor to Kansas City until June of 2012, and by then he was a member of the loathesome St. Louis Cardinals. He DH’d in his first game back at the K, going 2-for-5 while driving in 4. Like Damon, Beltran too was booed, though probably not as resonantly and not necessarily for all the same reasons. (Kansas City fans never really held fast to the notion that Beltran would ever stay; coming back as a Cardinal however, was akin to pissing on a Z-Man.)
And this weekend marks the return of one Billy Butler.
Butler, for all of this faults—power potential that never truly developed, lover of hitting into double plays—was THE Kansas Citiest Royal for the better part of a decade. He was jolly and good at singles (and sometimes doubles, to be fair) and he invented a barbecue sauce, for fucks sake. For many years, he was the face of a franchise, a man so beloved that his exclusion from the 2012 Home Run Derby inspired the “Boo Cano” movement, something that still lives on in some corners of the Royals’ Twitterverse.
But Billy got benched a lot last season, and Billy bitched. And it seemed pretty clear that he wasn’t a favorite of Ned Yost or Dayton Moore or maybe even both.
So Billy went west to Oakland, where the Athletics gave him a contract that was certainly within the Royals’ budgetary constraints. And by all accounts, he would have stayed here if the Royals would have at least matched Oakland’s offer. Which they didn’t. Obviously.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
And so it’ll be interesting to see how the fans react to Butler. It seems to me that the fans who pay at least a passing amount of attention will know that Billy didn’t make ridiculous demands, and that his departure had less to do with him and more to do with management.
You can’t boo that… right?
But for a majority of the crowd, all they know is that Butler left Kansas City, so go choke on a bag of dicks, you chubby hillbilly. They’ll boo and hiss and holler and the drunker ones will probably throw up a middle finger or two.
I just hope the latter masses are drowned out by the fans rightfully showing appreciation for eight solid seasons of baseball.
Godspeed, Billy. I hope you go 0-for-12 and strike out an embarrassing number of times, but I won’t boo you.
By now you know your fears were unfounded. As I learned when I moved here over two decades ago from the “big city”: KC is full of nice people.
You’re totally right. Good ovation.
Damon was a good player and lasted years after leaving KC. Butler will be gone within the year. Huge difference.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding something– you think this will be Billy’s last year?
Yes.
Please explain?
Big difference, Damon was clear about the fact that he wanted no part in being here and was happy to leave. Billy left because, for whatever reason, he seemed to be slighted by the manager and was not in any hurry to leave the city and the fans. If anyone really thought he would be booed in his return they do not have the pulse of the KC fandom at all.
I think you give sports fans in general too much credit.
That’s not really true Harry. When Damon was traded, he rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way by telling the truth.
He knew the Royals origination was lacking with a cheap owner and a incompetent GM. Ever part of the organization was under MLB standers. The Royals were prime to be the first team in MLB to fold. And when he left, he told every media outlet in town that.
You know what…he was right.
The issue was though many fans still looked at the team as the same one from the ’70s and ’80s. It wasn’t. More head scratching is that many fans looked at David Glass almost as a white knight who saved the team from moving to Washington DC, NY/NJ or from folding.
That’s largely why Damon was booed. He was booed because he knew what he was talking about. The fans unfortunately, still though GB was hitting third and playing 3rd base.
Interesting take. Thanks for that.
I wonder what caused Billy to stop hitting in 2013/2014? He was supposed to be at the prime of his career and all a sudden he pulled a Bob Hamelin on us. I understood how/why Frenchy lost his ability to hit, he got his big contract and immediately got off the juice as the money is guaranteed unless you get suspended. Melky was gonna get a HUGE contract but they caught him just in the nick of time.
But Billy? I don’t know what happened.
Yeah, and I don’t know that much about baseball but is it my imagination that he’s been hitting better these two games than he did toward the end of his Royals career?
He has looked much better this year in general, but, small sample size.
The same could be said about the Royals.
Touche.
Damon was mostly booed because he was a knucklehead. The Royals did try to make him the face of the franchise and seemed to be his baby sitter as well. After he moved on, he has proven to be the knucklehead we thought he was. Check out stories in sports publications. He and Billy are totally different, although after Billy’s post game comments yesterday, I am thinking he is not cheered next time in KC.
Yeah, he may have burned a few bridges. But to be fair, that’s a tough spot to be in, I’d think… you’re obligated to stand up for your new family, but you’re forced to do so against the people who spent so much time with. I think the best course of action is to distance yourself from it as much as possible without coming across to your new team like you’re abandoning them. Pretty tricky proposition in any case.