Kansas City Royals legend Alex Gordon hoping for quick resolution to labor situation
Former Kansas City Royals star Alex Gordon has stayed close to the franchise and the game since his retirement at the end of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. And as a former player union representative for the club, he’s more than familiar with labor negotiations between the players association and Major League Baseball.
His hope for the 2022 season, which should be in the early stages of spring training games but is currently in a lockout, is simply a quick resolution.
“I kind of passed off the player representative at the perfect time, now Whit Merrifield has to deal with all this,” Gordon quipped during a brief sit down with The Star on Friday. “It’s tough. You never want it to get to this point. At the same time, you’ve got to realize that this has to be taken care of to figure out a season. It’s business. I’m always going to be on the side of the players, just being one myself and knowing how hard it is to play this game 162 games a year.
“I’m just hoping the commissioner can figure out something, kind of get it settled. I know everyone is itching to get back into baseball and get back into the swing of things. Hopefully they can get something done quick. I know the season is coming up and they’re going to try to (meet) everyday now instead of back a couple months ago — I wish they would have back then — that’s just kind of how it is. Hopefully, they can get everything figured out sooner than later because I think everyone wants to see them out there.”
Gordon, sporting a Royals jersey featuring his trademark pine tar stain, spoke as part of a promotional event at Boulevard Brewing Company’s Kansas City facility.
A mainstay in left field after he made the transition from third base, Gordon won two Platinum Glove awards, earned three All-Star honors and a franchise-record tying eight-time Gold Gloves during a 14-year career in the majors.
A legend and a beer
Retired life has treated the World Series champion and defensive stalwart well. Having spent his entire career with the Royals, Gordon ascended to “legend” status about five minutes after he stepped off the field for the last time.
He has taken his place alongside the franchise’s beloved alumni, such as greats George Brett, Mike Sweeney, Bo Jackson, Willie Wilson, John Mayberry and John Wathan. Gordon even took part in the club’s annual fantasy camp in Arizona earlier this year.
“Growing up as a kid in Nebraska and coming to the Royals games, it was my dream to be a Royals baseball player,” Gordon said. “When I got that chance to be committed to Kansas City, I knew that I wanted to spend my whole career here.
“Thankfully, it worked out and I had good people in my life like Dayton Moore and Ned Yost, guys like that, who were able to keep me involved with Kansas City and let me stay here my whole career. I never take that for granted. I look back on my career and I’m always grateful and always thankful that I got to spend my whole time in Kansas City because it doesn’t happen a lot.”
His strong ties to Kansas City made him an easy choice for Boulevard Brewing Company to honor with his own beer. Gordo’s Golden Ale debuted last year as an offering exclusively at Kauffman Stadium, but it will be distributed across the Midwest starting Monday.
“It was a humbling experience last year during my retirement ceremony out at The K,” Gordon said. “I thought I was going out on the field and just throwing out the first pitch. As you might have seen, it was gift after gift after gift. One of the final gifts was this beer and this partnership with Kansas City and Boulevard. I’m so grateful for this opportunity.”
A portion of the proceeds from the beer will be donated to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money for and awareness of childhood cancer causes, treatments and cures.
Gordon had partnered with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation during his playing career. Royals Charities will match Boulevard’s donation.
Gordon described the partnership with Boulevard as a great honor for him, but also something great for the city and a way of giving back to the community.
Gordon also gave the beer’s taste a big nod of approval.
Still rooting for his guys
While Gordon has taken advantage of life away from the ballpark to spend more time with his family, he has also kept in touch with teammates and stays up to date with their exploits on the field.
“I have two boys, 11 and 8, and they love baseball,” Gordon said. “So anytime we were home and we had free time — obviously the game is on almost every day — we’d turn on the TV and try to watch them. It was great for me to just sit down and watch because these are my ex-teammates and I’m always rooting for them and always pulling for them.
“They had the glimpse of success last year, and I just think that’s going to carry over to this year. I was able to go to seven or eight games. I was able to watch it from afar. It was different, a little bit weird at first. I enjoyed it. It was fun to see my guys play.”
The Royals got out to a fast start in 2021 with the best record in the majors through April, but they finished the season with a 74-88 record as they continued to break in a lot of inexperienced young pitchers.
Gordon expressed optimism about the club’s outlook for this coming season.
“I think the rookies kind of got their feet wet in the big leagues a little bit and had some success and had some struggles too,” Gordon said. “I think that’s going to carry over to this year. I really expect big things out of these young guys coming up to help out this team. There’s still a lot of young talent that’s going to come up.
“I’m hoping they’re going to surprise some people. I know a lot of people are probably going to write them off and just say it’s just another Royals team that’s going to finish fourth or third, but this team has the capability and the talent to surprise a lot of people kind of like we did in late ‘13 and early ‘14. I’m looking forward to it.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 5:04 PM.
