Mets fans sprinkled at Kauffman all have their own stories and reasons

Clay and Mary Lyddane are the parents of two girls and a boy. The oldest, 9-year-old Caroline, was with them at the World Series game Tuesday. So was her brother, 7-year-old Seaver.

Yes, as in the legendary New York Mets pitcher whose first name is Tom.

The Lyddanes are, as you might imagine, diehard Mets fans. They live in Wichita now, but Seaver came by his name honestly, Clay said as the Lydannes hovered near the Mets dugout before the start of Tuesday’s opener.

“When he was born, we lived about a mile away from Shea,” Clay said, referring to the Mets’ now demolished stadium in Queens that preceded modern Citi Field.

But it was more than proximity.

Every member of Mary Lyddane’s family on Long Island, N.Y., has worshipped the New York Metropolitans since they were founded more than a half century ago.

Through thick, and mostly thin, as Royals fans of recent decades can easily relate.

Lots of disappointment.

“But once in a blue moon, it’s a miracle,” Mary said. “They’ve been so fun to watch this year, isn’t that right, Caroline.”

Mets fans were a small minority in that sea of Royals blue at Kauffman Stadium Tuesday night. Flecks of orange on their blue ball caps dotted the crowd.

Brandon Henke and Matt Cook drove five hours from their homes in Cherokee, Iowa, to cheer on the team that Cook follows regularly and Henke came to support more as a matter of solidarity.

“I’m actually a Cubs fan,” Henke conceded, but he’d rather cheer on the team that denied his Cubbies the National League pennant, he said, than root for the American League champs.

Not that he or some other Mets fans at The K on Tuesday held any animosity to the home squad.

After all, until this Series, there was no rivalry between the two. Unlike the regular matchups between and that other New York baseball team that shall go nameless, the Royals and Mets have rarely played each other.

Indeed, Mets and Royals fans have a shared experience of following teams whose recent bursts of brilliance came after decades of disappointment. The Royals last won it all in 1985, the Mets won their last World Series the following year.

“Let’s go, Mets!” Max Fecske yelled an hour before game time. “The dark knight is setting the tone!”

New York-born Fecske, 22, was in his Mets blue and orange, wearing a Batman mask as an homage to Mets ’starting pitcher Matt Harvey. Harvey has been dubbed the “Dark Knight of Gotham” for reasons only New Yorkers can understand.

But it meant something to Feckse, who said he had “no choice” but to spend $500 for a standing-room-only ticket and drive over from St. Louis, where he goes to college.

“I’ve been a Mets fan from since I was a baby,” he said. “I couldn’t have any excuse to not be here. I’ve got Mets in five.”

However many games it takes for this Series to reach its conclusion, 35-year-old Scott Gorran expects to be at all of them, just as he went to all seven games of last year’s World Series.

When he was a diehard Royals fan.

“That’s me last year,” he said, flipping out his cell phone to show a selfie of him in Royals blue.

Gorran was born in New Jersey, works on Wall Street and now lives in Manhattan.

For reasons too hard to explain or (especially this season) fathom, Gorran is a long-time Chiefs fan. Through friends, he got wrapped up in the excitement of the Royals’ postseason run in 2014.

This year, however, he is pulling for his hometown Mets, having been a fan since that 1986 Series win when he was 6.

Gorran understands the risks involved in staying true to his team through the years, just as Royals fans were used to heartbreak until 2014.

“You’re constantly disappointed,” he said of being a Mets fan.

Mets fan Sam Miller is hoping this year breaks the championship drought of 29 years.

“My mom was a Mets fan,” he said. “She’s from Queens.”

But if things don’t work out, Miller is in luck. The 22-year-old recently moved from Dallas to Kansas City for college .

Trust us, Sam. In time, you’ll learn to love these Royals.

This story was originally published October 27, 2015 at 9:25 PM with the headline "Mets fans sprinkled at Kauffman all have their own stories and reasons."