How Alex Gordon’s home run ball from 2015 World Series ended up in safe in Denver
The time will come when left field at Kauffman Stadium will be patrolled by someone other than Alex Gordon.
It’s inevitable, given the nature of sports as players come and go. But Gordon has made his mark, winning seven Gold Glove awards while helping the Royals to a pair of American League pennants and the 2015 World Series championship.
Although baseball is on hold, Royals fans are pleased Gordon signed a one-year deal to return for a 14th season in 2020. None more so than Blake Esfeld.
“He’s been a rock for Kansas City, and I’ve always looked up to what he’s done,” said Esfeld, who lives in Denver. “Seeing him come back for another year, I was glad to see it. I’m hoping he can end with a solid year.”
Esfeld feels a special connection to Gordon. They share the same birth year, and when Esfeld played baseball in 2002-04 at Barton Community College in his hometown of Great Bend, Kansas, some of his teammates were Gordon’s high school friends.
After Gordon arrived in Kansas City in 2007, Esfeld followed his career closely. He has a Royals No. 4 jersey in his closet as well as an invaluable collector’s item: the ball Gordon hit for a home run in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 2015 World Series.
Good job interview, too
On the morning of Oct. 27, 2015, Esfeld was in Kansas City for a job interview. He met up with his brother Bryce, who lives in Overland Park, and learned they would be going to the opening game of the World Series that night at Kauffman Stadium.
Esfeld’s wife, Melany, had worked with Bryce to surprise Blake with standing room-only tickets.
After nailing the job interview, Esfeld joined his brother for tailgating before the game, despite the sporadic rain that afternoon.
“I was on cloud nine just to be there,” Esfeld said. “And then it kind of cleared off before game time, and then the rest of the evening was pretty phenomenal. It was perfect.”
The Esfeld brothers were standing near the right field Pepsi Porch area, and by the ninth inning were feeling pensive (the Mets had a one-run lead) and irked (some boisterous nearby fans had enjoyed a few too many adult beverages).
So they moved closer to the batter’s eye beyond the center-field wall just before Gordon stepped to the plate against Mets closer Jeurys Familia.
“I played outfield in college and high school,” Esfeld said. “As soon as Gordon hit it, it was a pure swing, so I knew it was definitely going straight north. The ball was in the air, headed toward center field, and there’s a little rampway that goes up behind the hitter’s eye. Initially I thought it was going to clear the far backdrop, but it actually hit the front of that wall.”
In the replay of Gordon’s home run, Esfeld can be seen running toward batter’s eye while fans celebrated one of the biggest hits in Royals history. His initial reaction was disappointment.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh man, it didn’t clear the (batter’s eye) wall.’ When I was going up the ramp, the ball kind of flipped out from underneath the wall,” Esfeld said. “There’s a little fence rail behind the wall. I hopped over and grabbed the ball.”
Unbeknownst to Esfeld, TV cameras caught a glimpse of his find.
When he took possession of the ball, Esfeld’s mind was spinning.
“It was kind of like a surreal moment,” Esfeld said. “Excited that he hit the home run and we’re tied up, and then sure enough I had the ball. I wasn’t sure who to high five and who not to.”
When the game headed into extra innings, Esfeld sought out a Royals usher to asked if there was a way to get the ball authenticated.
The usher simply shrugged and said he didn’t know.
“So, at that point, I was like ‘OK, well, I’ll just keep it in my pocket and we’ll figure it out later.’ So nobody ever came to me and asked to get it fully certified or anything like that. But I reached out to the Royals a couple times. I traded a couple emails with their Hall of Fame. The person that manages the Royals Hall of Fame (Curt Nelson) asked me if they could have it.
“I said, ‘Well, this is kind of the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me’ at the time. Obviously I wasn’t just gonna hand it over.”
Although Esfeld landed that job in KC, he and his wife ended up moving back to Denver a few years ago and the ball made the journey along with them.
In a safe place
After the Royals won 5-4 in 14 innings, Esfeld and his brother celebrated with other fans late into the night, then headed to KCI for a 7 a.m. flight back to Denver.
“The guy that actually got the home run ball behind center field somehow ran into someone we knew at the airport either the next day or the day (after) and showed it to them,” Gordon said. “The person that we knew thought it was hilarious and took the picture and then sent it to me. So it was kind of a random but cool thing that happened a couple days later.”
The ball has a couple of unique features: The 2015 World Series logo and a splotch of green paint from its journey under the batter’s eye.
Esfeld keeps the prize in a safe, along with his World Series ticket, a commemorative Sports Illustrated issue and other Royals items. It comes out when Esfeld’s father visits from Great Bend and the ball is placed in his guest room.
“Coming from a small town in Kansas where everybody’s a Royals fan it’s kind of the talk of the town, and friends are always asking if we still have the ball or not,” Esfeld said.
“I wouldn’t say it has monetary value to it, but it’s definitely one of the biggest moments from a Royals victory.”
The Star’s Lynn Worthy contributed to this story
This story was originally published May 18, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
