A Royal Rejuvenation

They may be the most improbable World Series champions since another team lacking national star power, the 2003 Florida Marlins.

Local Kansas City Royals fans are looking to pinch themselves to make sure this incredible postseason ride is real.

After going through the Wild Card, American League Division Series and American League Championship Series unbeaten in eight games, with two wins at home tonight and Wednesday the Royals can claim their first World Series championship since the remarkable comeback against the St. Louis Cardinals 29 years ago.

In fact, it's the first playoff appearance for the downtrodden franchise since that 1985 season. On July 21 of this season, the Royals were 48-50 and no experts were predicting a deep postseason run.

It’s a team that ranked last in Major League Baseball in home runs with 95 home runs. But, they lead the majors in stolen bases, they play good defense and manufacture enough runs for one of baseball’s best bullpen to close out victories. There’s a collective energy, an attitude of refusing to lose.

All that pent up emotion and support is reaching a crescendo now as the team returns home, trailing the San Francisco Giants 3-2 in the best-of-seven World Series.

Here are just four of the many local people hoping to “Take the Crown” this week:

Travis Bryant

Travis Bryant wasn’t a big kid, so growing up in a baseball-crazy community like Lenox during the coach Steve Westphal regime was perfect.

“Baseball is my sport,” Bryant said. “It doesn’t matter how big you are. Watching the Royals is kind of like our Lenox team under coach Westphal. A lot of small ball, making things happen.”

Bryant was part of the Tigers’ state championship team in 2006. He still has the ring and cherishes that memory.

But what’s happening now with his favorite Major League Baseball team since he was 10 years old is pretty special, too. Especially since he’s an employee of the organization!

Bryant is manager of ballpark services at Kaufman Stadium.

“Our department is in operations,” Bryant said. “Ours maintains and cleans the stadium. We have a day crew that cleans it, washes seats, wipes things down, sweeps the concourse. I work every game in charge of the restroom attendants, sweepers and maintenance. Then we have a contracted night crew that comes in after games.”

This is Bryant’s third season with the ballclub, and it’s been incredible to watch the rise to greatness up close. It’s been a hectic time, though, as he and wife Andria had their first child, daughter Brooklyn, just six weeks ago as all of this was about to unfold. With so much excitement, lack of sleep hasn’t been a problem.

“When we clinched the ALCS, I was down on the field and watched all of the celebration,” Bryant said. “They had a toast for all of the employees in a conference room. My office is in the tunnel where the players walk out, so I see them all the time. Everyone has been in such a great mood.”

One of Bryant’s first memories is attending a Royals game as a child and having relief pitcher Jeff Montgomery stop and sign some memorabilia for him at the ballpark.

“Now he’s our pregame and postgame TV guy,” Bryant said. “After we won the pennant, at the postgame party, I talked to him and told him the story of how he’s part of my first memory at a Royals game. He said, ‘You just gave me chills!’ He told me his dad always told him to sign things and make people happy.”

He said the team’s trade that brought pitcher James Shields to the team seemed to push the Royals over the hump this season. He said you could tell that many of the young players coming up the past three years were going to be special someday.

That someday is now.

“It’s fun to show the world what we have here,” Bryant said. “Being a part of it, in the front office and having a role in the organization, I take a lot of pride in that. It’s impossible to describe how that feels.”

Mike and Donna King

Mike King says he doesn’t want to stop to think how much he and wife Donna have spent on tickets for postseason games since the Kansas City Royals rallied to beat the Oakland A’s in the American League Wild Card game.

Sometimes children and grandchildren have been in tow.

But, to Mike King, it’s an experience of a lifetime.

“It’s like a dream,” King said. “It’s like we’ve been on this magic carpet ride. All of the ushers and people around us know us by name now. We’ve probably seen a dozen different teams play this year against the Royals. It’s fun to go to the games, and Donna has always been a baseball nut. She’s like a 16-year-old kid down there!”

Tickets have gone for anywhere from $400 to $2,500, but King said he has not had to buy on the high end of that scale. Normally they purchase tickets through the team’s ticket office, so they get “credit” along the way toward the ability to buy postseason tickets. He has also used third-party brokers like StubHub.

“We got lucky enough to get approved for the Wild Card game through signing up with Major League Baseball, and we’ve just gone from there,” King said. “Hey, my health isn’t the best. I turned 60, I’ve got a pacemaker. I told Donna, if we’re ever going to do it, let’s do it! Let’s see the games when we can.”

Greg Abbott

Greg Abbott was a kid when the Royals were strong in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He and boyhood friend in Creston, Craig Campbell, now of Nashville, Tenn., used to go to Royals games on trips with their fathers.

They couldn’t resist putting a hit on the bank account and grabbing a memory of a lifetime.

“We made our minds up we were going no matter what,” Abbott said, of their plan to meet in Kansas City last Wednesday to attend the second World Series game, a 7-2 Royals victory.

“I was a freshman in college the last time they went to the World Series,” Abbott said. “I wasn’t missing it this time. It’s been a long time.”

“We went down to Kaufman Stadium about 2:30 p.m. and the tailgating was amazing,” Abbott said. “It was like a college football, or Chiefs football game. Tents were everywhere, people eating and drinking and having a great time.”

Strategically, Abbott and Campbell waited to buy tickets until prices dropped closer to game time.

“We scalped two tickets for $500 each five minutes before the game,” Abbott said. “There was some talk earlier of $2,500. Ten minutes before, the same guy wanted $1,400 for the two of them. We said we’ll give you $1,000 cash right now. He said OK.”

“I have a buddy who helps me get tickets during the season and we’ve done most of the last five or six opening days,” Abbott said. “But this was just beautiful, to be sitting there during a World Series game in Kansas City.”

Troy-Dylan Hoepker

Creston third-grader Dylan Hoepker got the surprise of his life last Tuesday.

During the lunch hour, his father, Troy, showed up at school and Dylan was called to the office to meet him.

“Troy asked Dylan if he wanted to go to a World Series game,” said Corina Hoepker, Troy’s husband and Dylan’s mother who teaches fifth grade at the school. “Dylan said, ‘Sure!’ So Troy said, ‘Then let’s go!’ Troy had gotten tickets to the first World Series game.”

Dylan can rattle off the names and statistics of all of the Royals players. This father-son trip to see them play in the World Series was a dream come true.

“You know, they lost the game,” Corina Hoepker said, “but they got to go. They ran into (former Royals pitcher) Bret Saberhagen in the team’s store and shook his hand, before he (Saberhagen) threw out the first pitch that night. They are diehard Royals fans, and this was a once in a lifetime deal.

“Troy asked Dylan what his favorite part of the day was,” Corina said, “and he said tailgating, and playing catch there with dad.”