Seven years ago, the Royals had to shelter in place for a reason different than today
Like many people in the United States, Royals players are staying home because they can’t go to their place of work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These are strange and unfamiliar days. But seven years ago, the Royals faced a similar situation, albeit on a much smaller scale.
On April 19, 2013, the Royals were in Boston to open a three-game series with the Red Sox, but baseball wasn’t on anyone’s mind. Days earlier, two men set off bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon and a manhunt was underway.
The Royals-Red Sox game was postponed and the team hunkered down at its hotel, which was located about a block from the marathon finish line/crime scene. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick had issued a “shelter-in-place” order, which put Boston and its surrounding communities on lockdown.
Ned Yost, who was the Royals manager at the time, took the directive to heart.
“I pretty much obey the laws of the land,” Yost told The Star at the time. “When they say, ‘Stay in your hotel,’ I stayed in my hotel.”
In Watertown, Massachusetts, businesses closed and people were instructed not to answer the door as the search continued that Friday for the second of two brothers who had left the bombs, which killed 3 people and injured more than 260.
One bomber had been killed after being run over by his brother following an intense firefight with police just after midnight on Friday.
With everyone at home, Boston became a ghost town.
Mike Swanson, the Royals’ vice president of communications and broadcasting, was with the team for the trip, which had started in Atlanta and would end in Detroit.
“We’ve been told not to go outside. We’ve been told the hotel has been locked down, although I’ve seen a handful of people moving around,” Swanson told the Associated Press at the time. “The streets are just, wow. It’s numbingly quiet for a noon hour in Boston.”
Former Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer told Bleacher Report in 2018 that military vehicles and television trucks were all around the team hotel.
“I remember getting in an elevator with (CNN’s) Anderson Cooper,” Hosmer said. “You just realized how nuts it was. The president came the next day. ... It was a long couple of days.”
Tim Collins, at the time a relief pitcher for the Royals, is from Worcester, Massachusetts and told MLB.com in 2013 he was expecting family and friends to attend that night’s game.
Instead, they stayed home and Collins hunkered down.
“I think this is probably the safest place you can be because there are so many officers, FBI and stuff like that,” Collins said. “Until they catch the guy, this is a pretty safe place to be. You really couldn’t tell anything outside when we flew in but once we got closer to the hotel, you could really see what was going on.”
Royals players would have headed to Fenway Park on Friday afternoon. Instead they found others ways to pass the time.
“A bunch of us sat around playing cards and watching TV for about eight hours,” right fielder Jeff Francoeur told The Star at the time. “Then we gave up on (following the manhunt), and switched to ESPN. And then everything happened.”
Shortly before 9 p.m. on Friday, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured by police, ending the threat.
That night, as baseball games took place in other cities, teams played the Neil Diamond song “Sweet Caroline,” an anthem of sorts at Fenway Park, and paid tribute to Boston.
“Baseball is a very tight family and we tend to stick together in times like this, no matter what,” then-Royals pitcher James Shields told MLB.com in 2013. “I think we’ve done a good job of staying a family that’s close-knit. Obviously, playing that song ‘Sweet Caroline’ always reminds you of the city of Boston.”
The next day, the Royals faced the Red Sox in a regularly scheduled game, and Diamond made an impromptu appearance at Fenway Park. In a pregame ceremony, first responders and marathon volunteers were honored.
Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz thrilled fans with a speech he capped with an F-bomb and said: “nobody gonna dictate our freedom.”
The Royals coughed up an eighth-inning lead and lost 4-3, but players were struck by the day’s events.
“Today was more than just playing baseball,” former Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas told The Star after the game. “It was cool to be a part of it. It was something special out there that was going on. It makes you take a step back and realize why you’re out there. It was awesome to see that city come alive today.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 10:06 AM.
