I was recently able to get to my first two games at Kauffman with my good friend John. We had no reason to visit KC other than to see the stadium. It was also nice to see the Negro League Baseball Museum and eat some great BBQ. Kauffman is currently the 6th oldest park in service. It was opened in 1973 and built for about $70M dollars. To put things in perspective Citizens Bank paid $95M in 2004 for naming rights in Philadelphia. In 2007 they spent an additional $250M on renovations to the park. Until that point the stadium was the only major league park that didn’t have outfield seating. The renovations probably helped in landing the 2012 All Star Game. Kauffman Stadium was one of the few baseball only parks of that era. Contemporary stadiums of the day were Three Rivers in Pittsburgh ‘70, Veteran’s Stadium in Philadelphia ’71, Kingdome in Seattle ’76, and the Metrodome in Minneapolis ’82. All of which are now closed.
The two games I saw featured the Minnesota Twins. The Twins and Royals were battling for last place in the division. The Twins had a slumping Joe Mauer. Justin Morneau was out for the year. The Royals had a roster with only one player over the age of 30. This player happened to be Bruce Chen, who threw a masterpiece for the first game. Bruce went 8 innings, gave up no runs and allowed only 3 hits and walks. KC won 4-0. Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas each had a home run. For the second game, the Royals were again dominant winning 7-3. There were no home runs this game but Jeff Francoeur went 3 for 4 with a SB. Despite a late rally and save situation we did not get to see Joakim Soria.
One of the things I found surprising was how many Twins fans were in attendance. Most of the ones we talked to had driven down for the series. Overall I rate this as a very nice park. It has a classic feel and good sight lines. The fountains in the outfield are a unique part of the park and lend a nice touch.
