EMPORIA, Kan. — As fans enjoy this fantastic — and somewhat unexpected — season from the Kansas City Royals, I put out a call on social media last week for fans to share their favorite Royals stories.
The story I heard from one couple can be described just like this season — fantastic and unexpected.
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Bill and Deb Huth, of Emporia, are big-time Royals fans.
"We actually went to the VIP fan day this year," Deb said. "We're going through the line, and it was Michael Massey and Chris Young and Hunter Renfroe and Bobby Witt, Jr. And he (Bill) has pictures of my backside with Bobby because he kept yelling at me to turn around. And I said, ‘I was in Bobby's world. I never heard anything but what he was saying.’"
Back in 2015, the couple made big-time Royals plans.
“We set up a suite for her 50th birthday,” Bill told me. “We called ahead, did the quick tour of the stadium. It wasn't batting practice day, so we didn’t actually get to see all the players.”
A lot of tours would have been pretty basic, but Bill and Deb were the only people on the tour that day.
“Our tour guide took us down to the field, and Rex Hudler was doing his laps in the morning,” Bill said. “So I hollered over, ‘Hey, Rex, it's my wife's 50th birthday. We drove all the way from Emporia just to get your autograph.'"
That would have been a cool moment for any fan, but Rex took it a step further.
"And he comes over, says, 'No, I could do better than that, guys.' And he goes down to the dugout, comes back out of the dugout with Salvador Perez,” Bill explained.
Deb quickly picked up the retelling of the story.
“All we had were our cell phones, and mine had a white case,” she said. “So I just handed it to him, like, ‘Sign my phone case.’ And he did.”
Then, Salvy took off his gloves and signed those, too.
Those items now live in a cherished shadow box above Deb's computer.
The Huths were at the electric Wild Card Game in 2014, which Deb described as the "most spectacular experience of my life."
And after nearly a decade, the Huths are ready to do it again.
"I feel like a kid every time I go to the ballpark,” Deb said. “It's emotional. People who say baseball is boring don't know what's going on."
The Huth family went to a game for Deb’s birthday again this year on the off-chance history repeats itself with a birthday trip turning into a World Series run.
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