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Post by KC Royals Nation on Jan 17, 2007 22:01:50 GMT -6
Nebraska leg of Royals Caravan ends
Shealy offers his thoughts after visiting with students
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
The Royals Caravan concluded its Nebraska leg on Wednesday with visits to Omaha and Nebraska City. Now the cast changes on Thursday, with catcher John Buck and pitcher Luke Hudson joining up for a trip to Marshall, Jefferson City and Columbia, Mo. On Friday comes the 15th annual Baseball Forecast Luncheon at the Downtown Marriott in Kansas City.
In the meantime, first baseman Ryan Shealy, after returning to Kansas City, provides this report on the Nebraska jaunt:
"I'm a little cold at the moment. Welcome to K.C., right? My home is down in Fort Lauderdale, so I went from lying by the pool to being out in this weather. But it was OK, it was fun.
"We were at Carter Lake Elementary School this morning. It was the house that [third-base coach] Brian Poldberg built. I guess that was his elementary school when he was a little guy. I'm not sure that he graduated, though; I think he was a few credits shy. I think he has a few classes pending.
"We told the kids a few valuable life lessons -- respect their teachers and work hard and all that good stuff. Sluggerrr was a huge hit as usual. That was my first experience with him. He was good, the little kids loved him.
"Then we went to a lunch given by the Omaha Royals, which was nice. The food was outstanding, which was important to me. A couple of people actually remembered me coming through playing for the Rockies, and some people were talking about me in Kansas City.
"Mostly, the people were talking about the acquisitions we made, and there was a lot of excitement about that. And, of course, they wanted to know what the lineup was going to be like, even though we haven't even had a day of Spring Training yet. It was good, though. It kind of got me excited, just to hear everybody else get excited. It gets you ready to rock and roll.
"From there we went to Nebraska City High School and talked to their baseball team and softball team, and fielded some questions from them about life coming through the Minor Leagues and what life was like in the big leagues. It was kind of cool hearing questions from those kids and telling them what it was all about.
"It was a good time. I got to meet Alex Gordon and hang out with him and Ryan Braun and Frank White. Gordon was certainly the highlight in Omaha, because he'd played at the University of Nebraska and he's certainly done well so far.
"All in all, it was a great experience, and I'm glad I did it."
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Post by royalsfan2008 on Jan 19, 2007 2:27:02 GMT -6
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Post by KC Royals Nation on Jan 19, 2007 13:03:41 GMT -6
Caravan hits the road in Missouri
Catcher Buck gives firsthand rendition of day's events
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
The Royals Caravan made some of its Missouri rounds on Thursday, visiting Marshall, Jefferson City and Columbia.
Toby Cook, the club's vice president of public relations, noted there was a change in Marshall, where Bueker Middle School was closed because of weather. So the group stopped instead at St. Peter's Catholic School, where some parents chipped away the ice so they could open it and have the Caravan. In other weather-related news, broadcaster Bob Davis had to skip the trip because he had to leave early to catch the Kansas Jayhawks' charter jet departure to Texas.
Catcher John Buck, who was joined by pitcher Luke Hudson and Royals Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Leonard on the tour, gave this account:
"We talked to the school kids, from pre-K up to the eighth grade. Sluggerrr had them on their toes. We asked if any of them had any questions. Our favorite came from the first kid of the day. He didn't have a question actually. He raised his hand, we called on him and he said: 'I like to ride horses.' And that was about it. We said, 'All right!'
"We went onto Jefferson City and had a private lunch at Madison's Café. Then we went to a Hy-Vee to meet the people and give some autographs. If the governor was there, I didn't see him. Just a lot of good, loyal Royals fans.
"Then we went on to a Hy-Vee in Columbia. It was a pretty standard visit -- autographs and kids. Nothing real crazy. There were a lot of questions about Gil Meche, and you could tell the fans were pretty excited about him. And Alex Gordon, too. Those were the two main subjects of questions.
"Then we headed back to Kansas City. We have the Baseball Forecast Luncheon on Friday at the Downtown Marriott. There's supposed to be a big crowd at that, so that'll be cool. I'm pretty excited about the season. There are about 30 days to Spring Training. I'm counting them down."
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Post by royalsfan2008 on Jan 19, 2007 16:33:10 GMT -6
Does anyone know of any site that has a summary of what happened at the Royals Luncheon today?
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Post by dejesus9 on Jan 19, 2007 16:46:03 GMT -6
I hope I can get out to Cameron tomorrow...
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Post by royalsfan2008 on Jan 19, 2007 17:19:04 GMT -6
Man, is Buck and Hudson really the only people that are going to be on the Missouri Caravan? I mean those guys might not even be here in 2008...
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Post by ror1fan on Jan 21, 2007 8:26:25 GMT -6
Man, is Buck and Hudson really the only people that are going to be on the Missouri Caravan? I mean those guys might not even be here in 2008... Dude in 2004 to California Mo we got to see Calvin Pickering and Jamie Cerda. They had a poster for the 04 caravan in the grocery store and when it was over I went and took it. I whish they would comeback here. To bad I didn't make this year's caravan we had Ice and snow everywhere. |
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Post by KC Royals Nation on Jan 22, 2007 16:56:06 GMT -6
kansascity.royals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/kc/fan_forum/caravan.jsp2007 Royals Caravan 5 - Jan. 25-27Participants: David DeJesus, Joey Gathright, John Mayberry, J.J. Picollo Thur., Jan. 25 Pittsburg, KS - 11 a.m.-Noon Meet & Greet at Wal-Mart SuperCenter – 2710 N. Broadway Bentonville, AR - 2-3 p.m. Meet & Greet at Mid-Missouri Bank – 2230 E. 32nd St. Bentonville, AR - 6-7 p.m. Meet & Greet at Wal-Mart SuperCenter – 406 S. Walton Blvd. Fri., Jan. 26 Springdale, AR - 8-9 a.m. Breakfast Reception with Rich Baseball at Holiday Inn-Springdale ** Tickets are $10, which includes a breakfast buffet. Please contact Eric Edelstein at (479) 756-8001 for more information. ** Springdale, AR - 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Meet & Greet at Jose's Southwest Grille – Hwy 412 & I-540 Sat., Jan. 27 Springfield, MO - 10-11 a.m. Meet & Greet at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World – 1935 S. Campbell Clinton, MO - 2-3 p.m. Meet & Greet at Benson Convention Center's Quad Lakes Hunting, Fishing & Water Expo – 1008 East Sedalia St. Warrensburg, MO - 4-5 p.m. Meet & Greet at Lotspeich Motors – 122 West Young
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Post by royalsfan2008 on Jan 24, 2007 21:01:40 GMT -6
I'll probably go to one of those this week. If I hear anything interesting, I'll try to tell you guys about it.
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Post by KC Royals Nation on Jan 26, 2007 19:01:05 GMT -6
kansascity.royals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070126&content_id=1787394&vkey=news_kc&fext=.jsp&c_id=kcGathright shares Caravan experiencesOutfielder visits fans with fellow Royals as tour hits ArkansasBy Dick Kaegel / MLB.com On the second-to-last day of the 2007 Royals Caravan, the group visited in the Springdale, Fayetteville and Bentonville areas of Arkansas. The travelers included outfielders David DeJesus and Joey Gathright, and alumnus John Mayberry. Gathright provided the following report: "It's going well. Long days, though. But it's good, because you get to see a lot of people out here. "I was shocked at how people come out. We went to a couple of Wal-Marts yesterday, and I was surprised to see that we have fans way out here. This morning, we had a breakfast and answered a few questions. Then we had a luncheon and went to a school where a whole bunch of kids were very loud, especially when Sluggerrr came in. The kids were fun, though. "The kids asked us all kinds of questions, like how many teams we beat during the year. And a lot of them didn't ask questions, they just got up and said that they liked baseball. They asked, 'How many home runs did you hit?' And I said, 'Only one.' I told them I steal a lot of bases, though. But when Big John [Mayberry] got up and said he hit 34 in a year, they all went crazy. "Big John didn't steal many bases. He told me he wasn't a big guy when it came to stealing. He's trying to convince David to steal 30 bases this year, though. "David and I talk about baseball all the time. We're trying to figure out what will happen with all the moves this year in the offseason. It's going to be tough going into Spring Training, because it creates a lot of competition. When people ask about it, we just give them the same answer: You've got to go out and do your best and see what happens. "A lot of fans are pretty excited trying to figure it out, too. They want to see what's going to happen this year. I'm pretty excited myself to see the new pitchers that we got. We have a pretty good lineup and hit pretty well at the end of the season, so, hopefully, it will carry over."
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Post by royalsfan2008 on Jan 27, 2007 14:16:02 GMT -6
I'm going out to see them today and I am glad that I'll get the chance to see David DeJesus in person. I'll tell you guys how it goes.
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Post by KC Royals Nation on Jan 28, 2007 14:58:14 GMT -6
kansascity.royals.mlb.com/kc/fan_forum/caravan.jspThe 2007 Royals Caravan Is Complete. Thanks for your support!The Kansas City Royals celebrated 2007 with a winter tradition -- the Royals Caravan! The Caravan wound its way through Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Arkansas over the last few weeks. This year's Caravan featured 2006 Royals Player of the Year Mark Teahen, catcher John Buck, outfielder David DeJesus, pitcher Luke Hudson, first baseman Ryan Shealy and many more! General Manager Dayton Moore and Manager Buddy Bell were also part of the events.
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Post by KC Royals Nation on Feb 26, 2007 22:01:49 GMT -6
Here are some photos from the Caravan in case anyone is still interested. I know it's belated, but here ya go:
javascript:void(popWin('http://www.mlb.com/kc/photogallery/year_2007/month_02/day_05/cf1794927.html','photogallery',690,590));
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Post by ror1fan on Feb 26, 2007 22:37:50 GMT -6
The link is dead bro.
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Post by KC Royals Nation on Feb 26, 2007 22:49:09 GMT -6
Here's the KC Royals homepage. Scroll down to the middle-lower part of the page and you'll see a picture gallery of the Winter Caravan. There, the pictures will launch. I wish you could direct-link the gallery, but I'm afraid that's not possible. kansascity.royals.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=kc |
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