 |
| If you look closely, you can see Splittorff's autograph |
“His autograph is on a ball no more than five feet from me now,” he said. “Had it signed, along with several other O-Royals players at the time, when they had a meet and greet, probably around '70. I remember my mother taking me. I would have been around seven at the time.
“Included in several of the emails I received this morning was the interview you did with him in Sept. of last year. Great interview and his genuine love for the organization really comes out during it. I had tears flowing both times I watched it.”
Here’s the video interview:
I hit the reply button.
“His passing hit me hard too,” I said. “I've been thinking a lot about him since I heard the announcement this morning and I keep coming back to the fact that he was like a hinge between my childhood as a Royals fan and my adulthood as a fan. He connected those two time periods for me.
“Like you, I have his autograph on several items and I picked them up and looked at them today.
“It's a sad day in Royal nation.”
When I was a kid – maybe 12 years old, my mom told me Splittorff was coming to a nearby JC Penney store to sign autographs. I grabbed one of my Splittorff cards and a baseball and stood patiently in line for him to sign them. Back then, there weren’t any “one autograph per person” rules so I shyly placed my baseball card and baseball in front of him.
He asked me my name and in addition to signing the items I put in front of him, he signed a photo of himself. Although the ink has faded, if you look closely at the pictures you can see his autograph on the card and photo he signed that day. His inscription on the photo says, “To Lee, Best of Luck. Paul Splittorff.”
Many, many years later I met Splittorff in the press box at Kauffman Stadium while I was working on assignment for a magazine. We didn’t talk long and I didn’t remind him of the day at JC Penney. It would have been too corny, but now I sort of wish I had.
Last year, the Omaha Royals invited players from the 1970 Championship Team back to Rosenblatt Stadium for a celebration. I spoke with Jack McKeon, the manager of that team, and one of the guys he mentioned was Splittorff. McKeon said he had to battle to convince Kansas City to give him younger players in Omaha.
“I remember Paul Splittorff as a young kid having a very good Spring Training,” McKeon said, discussing the 1969 season. “And the director of player development, Charlie Metro, I saw him in Spring Training, and I said, ‘I’d like to have him [Splittorff], and Jerry Cram and Al Fitzmorris in Omaha – three young kids and they said, ‘Ah, you can’t have those guys. They’re too young. They’re not ready. You’ll ruin ‘em. They’re over their heads.’
“I kept pleading and pleading and finally they gave in and I remember Charlie Metro telling me, ‘Don’t you come complaining to me in about mid-May or June that these guys can’t cut it.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of ‘em.’ Well, the rest is history. Each one of them won anywhere from 10 to 13 games that year and we won the pennant by about six or seven games.”
McKeon’s memory was spot on. The Omaha Royals won the pennant by six games over the Tulsa Oilers in 1969. Splittorff won 12 games that season; Cram won 10; and Fitzmorris won 10.
Of course, Splittorff went on to have a great career with Kansas City. Over the long haul, he might even be the best pitcher the organization has ever had. But to me, he’ll always be the guy who took the time to sign three items for me when I was a kid.
