Lifelong Royals fan gifts KCPD officer a surprise trip to alumni fantasy camp

Olathe South alumnus and St. Louis businessman Sean Asbury has twice traveled to Surprise, Ariz., to partake in the Royals’ annual fantasy camp and play baseball with former major-leaguers.

He won’t be able to return to camp, which runs Jan. 29 to Feb. 3, but he wanted to give someone else in the area the same opportunity he’s had to meet players he grew up idolizing.

So Asbury purchased a $4,000 spot and asked the Royals for help finding a suitor. On Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium, he surprised Kansas City police detective David Conchola with the gift.

“I need to get my right shoulder repaired since it hurts,” said Conchola, who was planning to schedule a procedure for January. “But now I’ll have to put that on the back burner. … This is a total surprise. I still can’t get over it.”

Conchola has worked as off-duty officer for the Royals for 12 years. He grew up in the Kansas City area, played baseball at Benedictine College and joined the police force 20 years ago.

Conchola previously attended the Royals’ fantasy camp in 2009.

“I thought it’d be a good idea to let a real hero actually go and have the same experiences that we do,” said Asbury, a long-time Royals fan who is a regional director for Optiv Security. “The police force spends their entire lives protecting us and making our lives better, and if we can get some little piece of it back, that’s all we’re trying to do.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2017 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Lifelong Royals fan gifts KCPD officer a surprise trip to alumni fantasy camp."