Mike Moustakas memories: Some stories of the former Royal you might not have heard

By now you already know Mike Moustakas has been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, and you’ve probably already read some of the articles recounting his exploits as a Kansas City Royal.

What follows are some Mike Moustakas stories you might not have heard.

We won’t talk hitting until you start hitting

Early in his Royals career, Mike was struggling at the plate, and almost every night, reporters would ask him about it. After a while, there was nothing new to say, but the media kept asking Mike about his slump.

So I made Mike a deal: We wouldn’t talk about hitting until he actually started hitting.

Mike liked that bargain, and when I told him I thought he’d dealt with a tough situation in a professional manner, Mike said he appreciated that more than I would ever know.

I’ve got a friend who taught grammar school and is a huge Mike Moustakas fan, and when I asked her why, she said Mike reminded her of the kid who was always in trouble but actually had a heart of gold.

On more than one occasion, my friend’s summary of Mike Moustakas’ personality proved to be accurate.

Were they booing me last night?

I once told Mike he was lucky to have a nickname like “Moose” because he would never know if the crowd was calling out his name or booing him.

At that point, Mike was scuffling again and he looked like the answer really mattered to him when he asked: “Were they booing me last night?”

I told him no, I thought everyone was pulling for him, and Mike then went on to say how great the Kansas City fans had been to him and how much he appreciated it.

Hosmer’s steak dinner

Mike has a rocket arm and every once in a while, one of the laser beams he threw over to first base would be off-line. When that happened, more often than not, first baseman Eric Hosmer would save Mike an error with a stretch, a scoop or both.

When I told Mike he owed Hosmer a steak dinner, Mike argued that I had it backward; Hosmer owed him a steak dinner.

“How’s he ever going to win a Gold Glove if every throw is perfect?”

The catcher’s mitt

I was shooting a video about blocking pitches in the dirt and wanted to show how bad it looked when a guy who wasn’t a big-league catcher tried to do it.

Hosmer agreed to hit me with some pitches, and Jason Kendall let me use his catcher’s gear but forgot to include a catcher’s mitt.

Mike had a mitt, so we asked if we could borrow it, and when he heard what we were going to do, Mike said we could use his mitt only if he got to hit me with pitches, too.

So I’m wearing a player’s catching gear, two of the Royals’ biggest stars are hitting me with pitches while giggling, and we’re in the indoor batting cage — where reporters are rarely allowed — when Ned Yost walks in.

We all froze to see how Ned would react, and here’s what he said: “Lee, you’re never going to block those pitches until you get your rear end up off the ground.”

Vargy pitched a great game

Once Mike got used to being in the big leagues, he could be short and irritable with the media, but there was usually a pretty good reason he acted that way.

After some people expressed the opinion that Mike should be sent to the minors, he had a big hit that helped win a game, and the media wanted to talk to him afterward.

The kid-who’s-always-in-trouble part of Mike came out, and he kept the media waiting, and then when he finally talked, kept repeating the phrase, “Vargy pitched a great game.”

It’s not the only thing he said that day, but when Mike was asked about his performance, he talked about pitcher Jason Vargas instead.

As I was leaving Kauffman Stadium, a TV reporter was on the phone saying they’d show the “Vargy pitched a great game” video over and over to make Mike look bad. So I wrote a column explaining why a player in Mike’s position might not feel like he owed the media any favors.

The next day, Mike spotted me leaning against the dugout railing, dropped his bat and glove and made a beeline in my direction. I wasn’t sure how Mike had taken what I had to say and thought, “This could get interesting.”

Mike fist-bumped me and walked off.

Stupid questions

Mike was taking extra grounders in spring training when I asked Royals infield coach Mike Jirschele how many balls fit in a bucket. My plan was to figure out how many grounders Mike was taking by counting the number of buckets Jirschele hit to him.

Mike was hot and irritable and said, “Lee, you ask some really stupid questions.”

Me: “My plan was to write something nice about you.”

Mike: “I don’t want people to like me.”

Me: “Well, you’re going about it in the right way.”

That made Mike laugh, and then the guy who claimed he didn’t care whether anyone liked him did not head for the air-conditioned clubhouse but instead went to visit with a group of fans and sign dozens of autographs.

Going to college

Mike was drafted by the Royals in 2007, and when a player is negotiating his contract, there’s always a threat that if the player doesn’t get what he wants, he’ll go to college instead.

But Mike said after he saw the classes he would be expected to take in college, he figured he wasn’t going to pass any of them and after that he would have signed for “a warm Pepsi and a bus ticket.”

On the other hand, Mike is one of the few ballplayers I’ve ever seen reading a book, and it was about the military … which brings us to the next story.

9/11

Mike was born on Sept. 11 and, whether or not his birthday has anything to do with it, has a patriotic streak and soft spot for anyone who serves in the military. If someone with a military background was throwing out the first pitch, it wasn’t unusual for Mike to volunteer to catch it.

There’s an Air Force base not far from the Royals’ spring training site in Surprise, Ariz., and one day a bunch of guys showed up to take batting practice. They were fighter pilots and there by Mike’s invitation.

After a long morning workout, Mike threw each and every one of them BP.

Are you glad you got to know me?

In our last conversation, I told Mike I hoped he didn’t get traded, because then I would have to start a new relationship with a new player, and I already knew him.

Then the guy who could be irritable and short, the kid who was always in trouble, smiled and asked: “Are you glad you got to know me?”

Yeah, Mike, me and thousands of Royals fans are glad we got to know you … and good luck in Milwaukee.

This story was originally published July 28, 2018 at 1:33 PM.