Randy Sims readily admits that his moonlighting job is a great gig.
Sims’ attends Royals’ games for free and sits in the visitor’s dugout. Across the diamond, Darren Ivey hangs out on one end of the Royals dugout — also as a second job.
Sims and Ivey are sergeants in the Kansas City Police Department who also do security work for the Royals, at the team’s expense. About 20 to 40 other police officers also work games, mostly in the stands.
If you’ve sat down near the field, Sims and Ivey have probably caught your envious eye. Between innings they pop out of their seats and survey the crowd.
“I grew up playing baseball and now they pay me to sit in the dugout with the players,” Sims said. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Both Sims and Ivey have had the catbird seats at Kauffman for about 10 years and if they ever leave, other officers would jump at the chance to replace them, Ivey said.
Their job is mostly to protect players, whom they can get to know pretty well. They play some golf with players and sometimes go to lunch.
Sims has his favorites, such as Torii Hunter, who shook Sims’ hand and gave him a hug when the Angels visited Kauffman early this week.
Until this year, Hunter played with the Twins — the nicest team in the league — according to Sims. Manager Ron Gardenhire jokingly sounds Sims out about pitching moves. Other especially friendly players are David Ortiz of Boston and Frank Thomas of Oakland, Sims said.
The least friendly team? You guessed it, the Yankees. “They have some snobbish players,” Sims said, two exceptions being Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi.
Ivey had praise for Royals’ players and said he became close friends with the former Royal Mike Sweeney. “This organization has always had nothing but great people,” Ivey said. Ivey said players have come to trust that he will not go to the media with anything they say or do.
Sims and Ivey said they are not allowed by the Royals to get player autographs for themselves or anyone else.
Players are hounded for autographs near the dugout, even during the game when chances of getting a signature are remote. In a rare occurrence this week, Angels’ star Vladimir Guerrero signed two baseballs while waiting to bat, Sims said.
Sims and Ivey said they are both big Royals’ fans. Sims has to control his sentiments as he works on the visitors’ side but Ivey said he does some low-profile cheering when the Royals score.
On the security side, Sims and Ivey said most of their time is spent keeping fans in line near the dugout. They warn heckling fans who are profane or especially loud to quiet down or risk ejection from the park. Sims said about 15 people were kicked out last year but that Kansas City generally has good fans.
Every so often, a fan will run on the field. “Most of them are drunk or they do it on a bet,” Sims said. Sims, Ivey and other officers run the sprinters down and take them into custody.
Ivey said one of the only down-sides to his job is being at afternoon games in the summer, when the field level heat can soar past 100 degrees. Night games after a full day at work can be tiring, he said.
But Ivey, like Sims, is not complaining.
“If you are a Royal fan and a baseball fan, it’s great,” he said. “What better thing could you ask for?”
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