Sweeney leaning toward one more year
A s former Royal
Mike Sweeney sat in the Kauffman Stadium visiting clubhouse Tuesday, he said he’s pretty sure he wants to play at least one more season.
But there are three conditions.
“No. 1, my heart would have to really be in it next spring,” Sweeney told me. “No. 2, my knees would have to heal up. And No. 3, I’d have to have a decent opportunity to play somewhere.”
What about with his present employer, the Oakland A’s?
“Well, I’ve talked to some of the coaches here,” Sweeney said, “and I’m getting positive feedback about that. But we’ll see what the team’s long-range plans are.”
Sweeney, 35, had arthroscopic knee surgery in June and plans to have more extensive surgery on both knees during the off-season. Sweeney and his wife, Shara, also are expecting their third child in December.
“It’ll be an interesting off-season, to say the least,” he said. “Right now, I’m just happy to be playing again. I was in the minors on a rehab assignment and I felt pretty good. I’m hoping to be activated for this series because I had these three dates in Kansas City circled all season.”
A Royal bump?
When Entercom and KCSP (610 AM) picked up the Royals radio rights, they were hoping to get a much-needed Arbitron ratings bump last spring. And KCSP, in fact, did, though it wasn’t enough to topple rival WHB.
For example, Roger Twibell’s early-morning show on KCSP had posted a 1.1 share in the winter for the demographic of men aged 25-54. In the spring, Twibell’s show moved up to a 3.3 share (still not enough to beat WHB’s 7.7 in that time slot).
In midmorning, Chris Hamblin and Cory Anderson on KCSP went from a 1.0 share in the winter to a 2.6 in the spring. Yet that also wasn’t enough to top WHB’s 6.9 in that time slot
WHB still posted an across-the-board victory for daytime shows. “The gap is closing,” said Dave Alpert, vice president/general manager for Entercom Kansas City which owns 610. “We know we still have work to do.
“But as far as getting the Royals’ contract, absolutely it was the right thing to do. When you’re a sports station, you need play-by-play programming.”
Said WHB sales director Sandy Cohen, “We still had a great book. Regarding the Royals’ contract, we’re a local company going up against a big conglomerate. We had to make a financial decision and it meant we couldn’t get the contract.”
Condolences
Our thoughts are with Royals play-by-play man Denny Matthews, whose mother, Eileen Matthews of Bloomington, Ill., passed away Friday. She was 87.
Funeral services are today in Bloomington.
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