If I recall from Lou Piniella’s book, after winning ROY in 1969, KC manager Charlie Metro did not play Lou during the early 1970 home game where he was honored with the award.
You could argue that Victor Martinez being traded then in the next week having both a bobblehead and V-Mart chest protector backpack day as pretty brutal. At least Kansas still had White after the mess.
And the Texas Rangers had Corey Kluber bobblehead day the day he threw a no-hitter *against* them for the New York Yankees (Kluber was a Ranger in 2020, when obviously no bobbleheads were handed out). I think that story's a little too contemporary for a series like this one though.
I don't think Wathan was all that bad. It was the front office that started going to hell. He also had the misfortune of managing when the Steroid A's were on the rise. A couple of his teams weren't that bad, and would have even made the playoffs in other years.
And for anyone reading my comment, yes I know the plight of baseball teams in small markets. I followed the Royals for years, and I saw players develop into stars through Omaha into the Royals, only to bolt for the Yankees when ownership was too cheap to keep them.
I'm a Kansas City fan through and through , born and bred. I'm so much of a homer that outside of the Royals, Chiefs, and Jayhawks, all the other teams in the world could fall off a cliff for all I care. That being said, I found both vids informative and interesting. I like my teams being talked about, negative or positive, as long as it's true. It's not like he's some delusional Bengals fans posting conspiracy videos about how the officials were out to screw the Bengals and put the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
It is crazy that a player still active didn't get to play on the day named after him. The manager sounded like a real fool saying he didn't know. I am pretty sure there was promotion and advertisements for this game all over the stadium and team press.
Frank White is one of only three MLB players who came out of the short-lived Kansas City Royals Academy. The other two are Ron and U.L. Washington (both not related to each other).
Yeah, no doubt. I HAVE heard some things about Royals Stadium crowds in the 1970s that would be almost beyond belief today. Nothing like Disco Demolition, but crowds in the 1970s were just wilder across the board. Even in Kansas City. Kansas City crowds in the 1970s were far more raucous than New York or Chicago crowds are today. One of my first memories of Royals Stadium is seeing the girls take their shirts and bras completely off to put their halter tops on. Now that was a promotion!!! Too bad...just when I got old enough to appreciate the views, they got rid of halter top day.
@@UlricSchnellock - Damn. That’s some raucous crowds. I know they booze it up in St. Louis, but I’ve never made it over to KC. I’m old enough to remember Disco Demolition Night, though being 9 at the time I could only listen on the radio. I remember it as a rare DH sweep for the Tigers for that time. :-) Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey provided plenty enough commentary. As bad as that was, everything I’ve heard about Cleveland’s Ten Cent Beer Night leads me to the conclusion that it will never be topped… unless someone comes up with the shit-all stupid notion to do Bat Night at Yankee Stadium.
@@RobKandell It's nothing like that today. When the Royals were good in '14 and '15 I had to sit up in the upper deck and I started to see some wild behavior coming back. As they say, a "large and... economically diverse...crowd" but it didn't last any longer than the winning did. The stadium is pretty family friendly these days. Arrowhead is much less so. Arrowhead attracts everyone from Mission Hills aristocrats to the people from Lee's Summit who hawk their food stamps for Chiefs tickets and all points in between. It can still get interesting in those stands. Half the crowd drinks hard for hours in the parking lot before they even enter the stadium....I mean, they *tailgate*.
@Rob Kandell The Cubs had this happened too. They had "Dave Kingman Day" in 1980 at Wrigley Field. But according to reports, he left the ballpark in the middle of the game and went to his boat on the Chicago Lakefront. Not as bad as Disco Demolition or Ten Cent Beer night. But still, not good
To continue with the theme of crazy stories involving KC teams, in 1996 the first year of both MLS & Sporting KC (known then as the KC Wiz) did something bizarre to try to energize the crowd. It involved a man in a wizard costume running out onto the field & casting "spells" on the opposing team before the game in the hope that it would spur the Wiz onto victory. Before one game vs the Metrostars this wizard got into the face of both Metrostars coach Eddie Firmani & Tab Ramos during his spell which both of them did not take too kindly to & resulted in the entire Metrostars bench wanting to beat up the Wizard. Firmani even attempted to throw a water bottle at the wizard. Unsurprisingly MLS told the Wiz to stop with this promotion after this incident. The KC Wiz only lasted one season before they were renamed the Wizards which remained their name until 2011 when they became Sporting KC.
@@JonPITBZN Not to mention needless. European football culture also includes Bayern Munich winning the eleven most recent Bundesliga championships, and I don't want American soccer to have anything to do with that.
Pure coincidence. Just happened to work out that way Didn’t know about the Chiefs story until 4 AM ET (that’s how quick I can pump these vids out). This story has been in the works for a bit; just had to wait for my editor to finish working on it
Just call him "Duke". That's what his teammates called him. He did a killer John Wayne impression, apparently. I never witnessed it. I did once see Marty Pattin's NC-17 Donald Duck impression when we were drinking in a bar together. Family publications will note that he did Donald Duck impressions, they just don't note that the impression was of Donald coming to orgasm.
@@UlricSchnellock I forgot about the nickname. He was also pretty fast for a catcher. He had 36 stolen bases in one season. But back then almost every Royals player was fast. I think I can imagine what Pattin's Donald Duck impression would sound like. It must've been hilarious.
One thing missing. Why was Frank White benched? Did the coach bench him for performance? Did he bench himself to rest up or that all the pregame festivities took its toll on him? Was it a last minute scratch? If the first, put him back in for that one game and then bench him the next. If it was the latter, play the first inning then come out of the game to an ovation. But in any event , it'd be nice to know whether he had any part in the decision not to play.
Had a 92-70 record in 1989 and 84-77 in 1988. Records most Royals teams since would kill for. He ran up against some very good Oakland teams in an era in which you had to win the division to go to the playoffs. He was 20X the manager that a Bob Boone or Tony Muser was.
Also before he was a Royal, he actually helped with construction of the Truman Sports Complex.
D'oh. Didn't see you before I posted the same thing. LOL
@@UlricSchnellock no worries, it shows we’re not making it up.
He was so literally a part of the foundation of the franchise, he had actually worked on the construction crew building Royals Stadium.
If I recall from Lou Piniella’s book, after winning ROY in 1969, KC manager Charlie Metro did not play Lou during the early 1970 home game where he was honored with the award.
I’ve met Frank White several times. He’s the most down to earth person I’ve ever met! Very nice man!
I saw Frank White at a kc Monarchs game
You could argue that Victor Martinez being traded then in the next week having both a bobblehead and V-Mart chest protector backpack day as pretty brutal. At least Kansas still had White after the mess.
The Oakland A's also had Yoenis Cespedes T-shirt day shortly after trading him in 2014
And the Texas Rangers had Corey Kluber bobblehead day the day he threw a no-hitter *against* them for the New York Yankees (Kluber was a Ranger in 2020, when obviously no bobbleheads were handed out). I think that story's a little too contemporary for a series like this one though.
It also happened in the late 90s for the Tigers. I don't remember the player
The Phillies would also sit Scott Rolen on Scott Rolen day…and yes this was the beginning of the end for his time in Philadelphia
The worst sports promotion since Billy Crystal ejected Kareem from his farewell game.
"Nobody pays to see you do anything!"
"Let me be the first to say, FAREWELL!"
Jackie Robinson also played for the Kansas City Monarchs.
And Montreal Royals
Jon Wathan is one of the main reasons why the Royals fell into an abyss after Dick Howser passed away
David Glass is another
I don't think Wathan was all that bad. It was the front office that started going to hell. He also had the misfortune of managing when the Steroid A's were on the rise. A couple of his teams weren't that bad, and would have even made the playoffs in other years.
@@maxwasson2000 I never thought I would yearn for David Glass, but the clown they have now is making me do so. He is such a disappointment.
@Ryan Reiter I don't get it- how do you manage to be worse than Glass??
And for anyone reading my comment, yes I know the plight of baseball teams in small markets. I followed the Royals for years, and I saw players develop into stars through Omaha into the Royals, only to bolt for the Yankees when ownership was too cheap to keep them.
May 8, 2023: otherwise known as Crap on Kansas City Day on the JG channels.
I'm a Kansas City fan through and through , born and bred. I'm so much of a homer that outside of the Royals, Chiefs, and Jayhawks, all the other teams in the world could fall off a cliff for all I care. That being said, I found both vids informative and interesting. I like my teams being talked about, negative or positive, as long as it's true. It's not like he's some delusional Bengals fans posting conspiracy videos about how the officials were out to screw the Bengals and put the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
@@UlricSchnellockAgreed... plus these are probably stories that only locals (and maybe some out of market diehards) would know about.
I met Frank White in 2007. He is a great guy. He signed a book for me.
It is crazy that a player still active didn't get to play on the day named after him. The manager sounded like a real fool saying he didn't know. I am pretty sure there was promotion and advertisements for this game all over the stadium and team press.
Frank White is one of only three MLB players who came out of the short-lived Kansas City Royals Academy. The other two are Ron and U.L. Washington (both not related to each other).
As bad as it was, both Cleveland and Chicago can top it. :-)
Yeah, no doubt. I HAVE heard some things about Royals Stadium crowds in the 1970s that would be almost beyond belief today. Nothing like Disco Demolition, but crowds in the 1970s were just wilder across the board. Even in Kansas City. Kansas City crowds in the 1970s were far more raucous than New York or Chicago crowds are today. One of my first memories of Royals Stadium is seeing the girls take their shirts and bras completely off to put their halter tops on. Now that was a promotion!!! Too bad...just when I got old enough to appreciate the views, they got rid of halter top day.
@@UlricSchnellock - Damn. That’s some raucous crowds. I know they booze it up in St. Louis, but I’ve never made it over to KC.
I’m old enough to remember Disco Demolition Night, though being 9 at the time I could only listen on the radio. I remember it as a rare DH sweep for the Tigers for that time. :-) Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey provided plenty enough commentary.
As bad as that was, everything I’ve heard about Cleveland’s Ten Cent Beer Night leads me to the conclusion that it will never be topped… unless someone comes up with the shit-all stupid notion to do Bat Night at Yankee Stadium.
@@RobKandell It's nothing like that today. When the Royals were good in '14 and '15 I had to sit up in the upper deck and I started to see some wild behavior coming back. As they say, a "large and... economically diverse...crowd" but it didn't last any longer than the winning did. The stadium is pretty family friendly these days. Arrowhead is much less so. Arrowhead attracts everyone from Mission Hills aristocrats to the people from Lee's Summit who hawk their food stamps for Chiefs tickets and all points in between. It can still get interesting in those stands. Half the crowd drinks hard for hours in the parking lot before they even enter the stadium....I mean, they *tailgate*.
@Rob Kandell
The Cubs had this happened too. They had "Dave Kingman Day" in 1980 at Wrigley Field. But according to reports, he left the ballpark in the middle of the game and went to his boat on the Chicago Lakefront. Not as bad as Disco Demolition or Ten Cent Beer night. But still, not good
@@tubesocksbrigade3031 Actually Kong wasn't even at Wrigley Field that afternoon. He was at Chicagofest at Navy Pier promoting Kawasaki Jet Skis.
Talk about a dumb decision smh
How could someone so unaware of what's going on around him manage an MLB team?
To continue with the theme of crazy stories involving KC teams, in 1996 the first year of both MLS & Sporting KC (known then as the KC Wiz) did something bizarre to try to energize the crowd. It involved a man in a wizard costume running out onto the field & casting "spells" on the opposing team before the game in the hope that it would spur the Wiz onto victory. Before one game vs the Metrostars this wizard got into the face of both Metrostars coach Eddie Firmani & Tab Ramos during his spell which both of them did not take too kindly to & resulted in the entire Metrostars bench wanting to beat up the Wizard. Firmani even attempted to throw a water bottle at the wizard. Unsurprisingly MLS told the Wiz to stop with this promotion after this incident. The KC Wiz only lasted one season before they were renamed the Wizards which remained their name until 2011 when they became Sporting KC.
Those "spells" backfired and were delayed 28 seasons, for Sporting KC now are the worst team in MLS.
"until 2011 when they became Sporting KC"
MLS awkwardly trying to force European football culture onto American soccer is extremely cringeworthy
@@JonPITBZN Not to mention needless. European football culture also includes Bayern Munich winning the eleven most recent Bundesliga championships, and I don't want American soccer to have anything to do with that.
This should have fallen into the dumb decisions basket.
Do I see a theme developing with the Kansas City videos today? Lol
Pure coincidence. Just happened to work out that way
Didn’t know about the Chiefs story until 4 AM ET (that’s how quick I can pump these vids out). This story has been in the works for a bit; just had to wait for my editor to finish working on it
John Wathan was a teammate of Frank White for 10 years. Me being anal in such things, Wathan is pronounced Waw-thin.
Just call him "Duke". That's what his teammates called him. He did a killer John Wayne impression, apparently. I never witnessed it. I did once see Marty Pattin's NC-17 Donald Duck impression when we were drinking in a bar together. Family publications will note that he did Donald Duck impressions, they just don't note that the impression was of Donald coming to orgasm.
@@UlricSchnellock I forgot about the nickname. He was also pretty fast for a catcher. He had 36 stolen bases in one season. But back then almost every Royals player was fast. I think I can imagine what Pattin's Donald Duck impression would sound like. It must've been hilarious.
One thing missing. Why was Frank White benched? Did the coach bench him for performance? Did he bench himself to rest up or that all the pregame festivities took its toll on him? Was it a last minute scratch? If the first, put him back in for that one game and then bench him the next. If it was the latter, play the first inning then come out of the game to an ovation. But in any event , it'd be nice to know whether he had any part in the decision not to play.
Was John Wathan living under a rock?! No wonder the Royals were awful in 1990. No attention to detail.
Had a 92-70 record in 1989 and 84-77 in 1988. Records most Royals teams since would kill for. He ran up against some very good Oakland teams in an era in which you had to win the division to go to the playoffs. He was 20X the manager that a Bob Boone or Tony Muser was.
#TotalEclipseOfTheHeartThen?
You pronouncing John Wathan wrong. Thanks for the love for the Royals though.