From A’s to T-Bones: Kansas City Baseball

The reunion weekend for the Kansas City Athletics in 2011 involved not only the big banquet and first-ever award (given to Jerry Lumpe) on Friday evening, but also a special “Tribute to the A’s” hosted by the Kansas City T-Bones on Saturday night. It was a hot, muggy and wonderful evening shared by a full house at the T-Bones’ home ball park, and it even featured a Hall of Famer helping out with the grounds crew!

Pre-game introductions of the Athletics’ alumni present were greeted with enthusiastic cheers, and it was easy to tell that some fans in attendance came just because of the A’s presence! They wore old hats and shirts of the defunct KC team. Homemade signs dotted the crowd. And MANY lined up for the autograph sessions during the game.

Surprising many was the fact that the loudest cheer during the intros was reserved for George Toma, the King of the Turf in Kansas City for decades! Acknowledging the crowd, Toma knelt on the ground and kissed the ball field. It was a great sports moment for those who understood what was going on.

The T-Bones’, a great independent league franchise, did not miss a beat. Not only did they sell KC Athletics items in their team store that evening (making for even more autograph opportunities), but they also had a life-size “Harvey the Rabbit” taking balls to the umpire, and sheep grazing in the outfield…just like Charlie Finley used to do! It was quite a night. So much so that even the fireworks afterwards were anti-climatic.

Enjoy the pictures!