[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17306-17309]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS ON THEIR 2015 
                          WORLD SERIES VICTORY

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 305, submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 305) commending and congratulating 
     the Kansas City Royals on their 2015 World Series victory.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider 
be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 305) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, it may be obvious that my colleagues and I, 
here in the back of the room--even during a serious debate--are a 
little happier than the Senate usually finds itself. Of course, we are 
very pleased to be able to commend our baseball team.
  While Senator McCaskill and I wish to quickly point out that the team 
is located in Kansas City, MO, certainly Kansans and Missourians join 
together to support the Royals, support the Royals in the American 
League, and in this case support the Royals in the World Series--and 
what a series it was. What a team it has been to watch the last couple 
of years.
  I think maybe my favorite comment from the series that didn't end 
quite so well for us last year was the one game the manager of the 
Giants just said: They kept hitting the ball where we couldn't get to 
it.
  That is very much the kind of baseball the Royals play, that big ball 
park they play in. Home runs aren't as much a part of the game as just 
hitting the ball where the other side can't get to it and then always 
getting to the ball that the other side hits anywhere.
  This is a series that started with a 14-inning classic and ended in a 
12-inning thriller, with 5 Royals' runs being scored in the top of that 
12th inning.
  If this had been a seventh-inning series, the Royals wouldn't have 
won. The Royals outscored the Mets 15 to 1 from the seventh inning on 
and won three of the four games after they were behind in the eighth 
inning or later in the World Series. That just doesn't happen. It is a 
great record. It has been a great team. Every player on that team 
contributed to the wins and contributed in significant ways.
  Christian Colon became the first Major League player in history to 
get a series-clinching hit in his first postseason at bat ever. Raul 
Mondesi became the first player in history to make his Major League 
debut in the World Series. He never played a World Series game before 
because he had never played a Major League game of any kind before. Of 
course, the manager of the Royals, Ned Yost, had the highest winning 
percentage in Major League Baseball postseason history as he goes right 
on to do what he and the Royals have been doing. Salvador Perez hit 
0.364 in the World Series and started 16 consecutive postseason games 
after catching 139 games in the regular season. It makes my knees hurt 
just to think about it, but he did it.
  Yesterday 800,000 fans turned out in Kansas City to welcome the 
Royals home. We are all pleased to be here. I certainly wish to 
congratulate the owners, the Glass family; the manager, Ned Yost; the 
general manager, Dayton Moore; the players; the coaches; the fans; and 
the families. What a great series for the Royals, what a great series 
for Kansas City, but what a great series for baseball. What a great 
season for baseball. Certainly, we were all pleased to see the Royals 
bring this victory home.
  We will start by going to Senator Roberts of Kansas and then we will 
go back to either a Missourian or a Kansan as we talk about this great 
baseball team and this great victory.
  Mr. ROBERTS. I thank my colleague for yielding.
  Mr. President, I have been sitting here thinking about Missouri and 
Kansas and our past histories--some differences in politics, some 
differences in sports, big time, down through the years. What a great 
thing to happen when, yes, there is the Kansas City Royals in Missouri. 
I might be a little local here and say primarily filled by Kansas fans, 
but I will not do that, but it is a great day for both of our States 
and for people who live in our area.
  We are all proud of our Kansas City Royals. It was a hard-fought 
World Series victory, but it was celebrated in Kansas from Goodland to 
Liberal, from Parsons to Troy, way up there on Highway 36 and 
everywhere in between.
  Yesterday we saw something amazing happen: Kansas fans and Missouri 
fans marching in a sea of blue in downtown Kansas City. There were more 
than one-half million people--no shoving, no

[[Page 17307]]

pushing, no fires, no problems. There were young and old people from 
all walks of life, all races, all nationalities, and all Royals fans. 
The schools were closed. Workers took a break. The streets filled. The 
windows opened, and it was a gorgeous Royals blue day.
  Some are celebrating this kind of victory for the first time. Others 
are remembering 1985, George Brett and that team, and seeing that same 
excitement again, this time in their children's eyes. You see, some of 
us really counted us out--or some counted us out. We are, in fact, a 
small market team, a team with young but very talented guys. They said 
we haven't had what it takes to be World Series champions. We didn't 
have the big name home run hitters or the big name flamethrower 
pitchers or a big park made smaller for home run hitters. What we did 
have was a team, players who kept the line moving. The stats made the 
difference, as indicated from my colleague and friend from Missouri, 
who went through a number of stats that are rather remarkable.
  In this postseason, the Royals strikeout rate was only 16 percent, 
just 81 strikeouts in 505 plate appearances. The Royals' regular season 
average was better, just 15 percent. For baseball, that is really 
amazing and it was the best in baseball. The league average in the 
regular season was more than 20 percent--20 percent strikeouts, one out 
of five. That is why people keep yawing. They don't yawn when they 
watch the Royals.
  These Royals had a manager who let them play as they were: young, 
fast, and aggressive. That is rather remarkable. Ned Yost let them 
choose whether or not to steal--that is amazing. He let them swing at 
the first pitch. Alcides Escobar hit that inside-the-park home run in 
the first pitch in the bottom of the first inning of the first game of 
the World Series at Kauffman. That is a ball park for playing baseball: 
hitting, running, fielding, and a few home runs.
  He let them play the game. They were relentless. They kept the lines 
moving, went against unconventional baseball wisdom--and oh was it fun 
to watch.
  We won, Kansas City won, and baseball won. Our celebration today is 
about the Royals, the joy of the game of baseball, but it is also about 
our identity as a city and a region.
  We were told that a small market team from flyover country would not 
be able to beat the New York Mets. We won because we kept the line 
moving--just like the Royals fans do in Kansas and Missouri every day--
through a couple of decades of post-season drought, proving our team, 
our fans, our kind of game is the best in baseball.
  I know I speak for the fans all over our State and the hundreds of 
thousands of fans that gathered to enjoy and celebrate a victory for 
our team and, yes, for our region, too--and I think for our country. 
Everybody adopted the Royals. Thank you, Royals. Thank you for showing 
the world what fun baseball can be if you play the game, if you keep 
the lines moving.
  The Kansas City Royals are the 2015 World Series champions. How about 
them apples?
  I thank my colleague.
  Mr. BLUNT. ``Them apples'' as in the Big Apple? Are those the apples 
we are talking about?
  I start in the spring going to minor league games and to major league 
games, but as we go back and forth across the border here, there is no 
bigger, more dedicated baseball fan in the Senate than Senator 
McCaskill. If you want to know who is playing, what position they are 
playing, what their batting average is likely to be, this is always a 
good way to find out, and I look forward to hearing what she has to say 
about the Royals.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, listen, I am lucky to be from Missouri 
because I love baseball. I love sports. I was raised by a great uncle 
who was like my grandfather and made me go out to the backyard every 
night in the summer. I even remember he had a small burgundy transistor 
radio. I would lie on a blanket, he would sit in a lawn chair, and he 
would hush me--hush me--when important parts of the game came on. He 
was a big Cardinals fan. I was raised as a Cardinals fan. I spent time 
in Kansas City early in my career. In fact, I was in Kansas City during 
the 1980s, the last time that Kansas City won the World Series.
  Some people have the nerve to call our part of the world flyover 
country but not when it comes to baseball. For 4 of the last 5 years, 
teams who play ball in the middle of America with lower payrolls and 
with smaller media markets have made it to the World Series, and for 2 
of those last 5 years, the world has seen a different kind of ball 
team. In this day and age when it is all about endorsements, and it is 
all about your agent, and it is all about whether you are a free agent 
and how much money you are going to make, they have seen a team that 
plays like a team. From the fun they have with each other to the way 
they interact with the community, this is a different kind of 
professional baseball team. Yesterday, when most teams would have on 
swag that talked just about their team, T-shirts that would say ``World 
Series Champion'' or hats that would say ``World Series Champion,'' 
what did this team have on yesterday in front of those, some say 
800,000 people from Kansas and Missouri who flooded into the city in 
such numbers that they abandoned their cars on the interstate so they 
would be part of it? What did the team have on? Thank you, KC. It 
wasn't about them; it was about the community and how closely knit the 
team felt with the community.
  From the fun they had with 1738 to the T-shirts that people wore 
saying ``Straight Outta Kauffman,'' this was a team that took baseball 
seriously but didn't take themselves too seriously. They played the 
game with intensity, they played the game with immense skill, but 
always with joy.
  I have to tell you the truth. I never thought I would be on the floor 
of the Senate quoting the amazing orator Jonny Gomes. Most people in 
America probably don't know who Jonny Gomes is, but the people of 
Kansas City know. Just because you are a backup outfielder doesn't mean 
you are not important on this team. Jonny Gomes stole the show 
yesterday. To paraphrase him--and I have to be careful, because I can't 
exactly paraphrase him. I don't think one of the words he used I am 
allowed to use on the floor of the Senate. But I believe it went 
something like this: Cy Young winner? Not on our team. We beat them. 
Rookie of the year? Not on our team. We beat them. MVP of the league? 
No, sorry guys, not on our team. We beat them. We kicked all of their--
something which I can't say on the floor of the United States Senate.
  So I am proud to quote Jonny Gomes today. I am proud of who he is and 
what he represents. I am proud of this team. This is a team that 
understands the essence of being an underdog and coming from behind and 
proving to everybody they are wrong.
  There is a famous poem about baseball, and one of the famous lines 
starts with the phrase ``there is no joy.'' I have to tell you, there 
is joy; there is unbridled joy in Kansas City for this team and for all 
the right reasons. I am incredibly proud to represent a State and an 
area of our country that has produced this kind of sportsmanship and 
this kind of grit and determination. The Royals never say quit.
  Thank you, Mr. President, and I will turn it over to my colleague 
from the State of Kansas, who is appropriately sporting a very royal 
blue tie.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Missouri for 
yielding to me, and I appreciate both my colleagues from Missouri and 
Kansas joining us on the Senate floor this afternoon.
  I wonder if there are folks out in the country who might not be 
baseball fans and are wondering, with all the challenges our country 
faces, why these four Senators have gathered on the Senate floor to 
talk about baseball. But the reality is that this is an example of what 
can happen when we work together.
  We are divided here between Republicans and Democrats in support of 
this legislation, and that is much easier to

[[Page 17308]]

overcome than the fact that Missourians and Kansans are working 
together. There has been a long rivalry between our two States, much of 
it done with a smile but some done with a little more intensity than 
just that smile of Kansas versus Missouri or Missouri versus Kansas. 
The good news is the Royals and their championship are more evidence 
that rivalry--when it comes to important issues, when it comes to the 
ability to work together for the benefit of Kansas City and Missouri 
and Kansas, those communities come together.
  I guess my colleagues ought to know that there is Kansas City, MO, 
and there is Kansas City, KS, and suburbs of both those cities on both 
sides of the State line. As I have said, as communities they have come 
together to make sure good things happen, and the Royals is just one 
more example. This is something that matters to Kansans, whether they 
live close to Missouri or they live close to the Royals stadium.
  The first overnight visit I ever made to Kansas City and actually 
spent the night in this big city--I grew up about 350 miles west of the 
stadium--was to watch the Royals play ball in the old stadium. All my 
life I have said, ``Come on, Royals.'' You can walk through the room in 
our house, the television is on, the Royals are playing, and that 
expression out of my mouth is always ``Come on, Royals.'' It is 
something we all grew up with, wherever we lived in the State of 
Kansas. You can find almost no fan of baseball in our State who is not 
a Royals fan.
  There is something also about this Royals baseball team. Throughout 
my lifetime, hearing the voice of Denny Matthews and Fred White as they 
called the games in Kansas City and around the country gave me a 
sense--and still today gives me a sense--of peace; that there is 
something still right in the world; that baseball is still played and 
teams come together.
  Most of us grew up in our early days being on a softball or a 
baseball team. Baseball brings us together. So while my colleagues and 
I recognize the importance of the many issues that our country faces 
and that we are dealing with in the Senate and in the Congress in 
Washington, DC, there is something comforting in knowing that America 
can still come together on a pastime, on a sport, on an activity that 
still means so much to so many Americans.
  So we celebrate with this resolution and ask our colleagues to join 
us in approving this effort in honoring the 2015 World Series 
champions. It was an amazing season. This is something that hasn't 
happened since 1985. So 30 years ago, in Kansas City, the Royals played 
in the World Series and won.
  I still envision my wife and her deceased father--her now deceased 
father. Robba, with her dad, grew up on the Missouri side of the State 
line, in the shadows of Kauffman Stadium. I can still envision what it 
was like for a little girl to grab hold of her dad's hand and go to a 
Royals game to watch baseball. Again, it brings families together on an 
almost weekly basis over a long season in Kansas City, and it has been 
true in our family.
  We are here today to commend the great things that happened during 
this season. Since the last time the Royals were champions, many 
Kansans, many Missourians, many Americans have grown up and gone off to 
college, served in our country's military, gotten married, and started 
their own families. So there is great pride, and we are here to affirm 
how good it feels to have that success once again.
  It is pleasing to be an American where baseball is a way that we live 
our lives, and it brings us together. It is great to be a Kansan who is 
so proud of the Kansas Royals, and it is great to represent many folks 
in Kansas City who know life as something that surrounds them with the 
Kansas City Royals.
  This was a special year, a special team, and they loved playing the 
game. They exuded confidence. They never lost focus. Having fallen 90 
feet short a year ago, the Royals players were relentless this year in 
their drive to get back to the World Series, and it was a joy for all 
of us to watch them accomplish that and finish that job last weekend 
against the New York Mets.
  So I join my colleagues in congratulating the Royals team, the Royals 
fans, and Americans who enjoyed this sport and saw great sportsmanship 
on a baseball field. We are thankful to Mr. Kauffman, and now Mr. 
Glass, and their families who have invested their efforts and their 
time and their commitment to the Kansas City Royals. We appreciate the 
general manager Dayton Moore, and the manager Ned Yost, and commend and 
congratulate them on this amazing accomplishment. We hope we don't have 
to wait another 30 years for another national championship involving 
the Royals and their crowning again.
  Once again, I would say, ``Come on, Royals.''
  Mr. President, I yield back to the Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, my good friend from Kansas mentioned that 
distance between third base and home plate, and in the ninth inning of 
the fifth game of the World Series, Hosmer was on third, and I believe 
there was one out. A ball was hit squarely to the third baseman, who 
caught it, ready to throw it to first, and then Hosmer did something 
nobody ever does: He decided he was going to steal home. And when you 
do that kind of thing, people respond in certain ways. They are 
surprised, you are surprised, and the Royals did that over and over 
again. He stole home and the game was tied in the 9th and then went to 
the 12th, but only because somebody did something nobody thought they 
would do. We could do a little more of that here, but certainly the 
Royals did that all season.
  I want to ask Senator McCaskill if there is anything she wants to add 
as we close up here.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Well, I was lucky enough to be a witness to game 5 in 
New York, surrounded by a lot of apple-eating fans who were in shocked 
disbelief when it looked like the Mets had it under control and the 
Royals pulled a patented move out of their back pocket to tie up the 
game in the ninth inning.
  That particular play was one of those that you could tell it was 
almost instinct on the part of Hoz because he saw the throw and just 
went. Frankly, a bad throw to home plate was his savior. I am not sure 
he would have made it had it not been for the throw that went wild at 
home plate from the first baseman. But that is the thing that is fun 
about this team. We can go through--Salvi got the hit. It was a 
sacrifice hit, but nonetheless this is a guy who got MVP. And it wasn't 
as if he hit a bunch of home runs in the World Series; he got MVP 
because he consistently performed in almost a utilitarian way, getting 
a hit when it was really needed, getting banged up consistently behind 
the plate. At one point he got hit so hard in the clavicle that I am 
sure a lot of players would have said: I need an inning. I need to get 
out. I need to be replaced. But he just kept shaking off every injury. 
It could get dangerous because he could go on and on.
  There were so many contributors on this team. That is what made it so 
incredibly special. As Senator Roberts said, it is not as if there was 
one hero here, like so many teams that have an A-Rod or a Robert 
Griffin. We can name the big players who have been standouts, Ripkin 
and the rest. This is a team in which everybody is a standout because 
it is all about the team.
  Mr. BLUNT. It was a great season. We have had a great time here on 
the floor talking about the Royals and the Kansas City spirit that 
drove those teams. For us Missourians, maybe we will see both of our 
teams in the World Series again next year.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. BLUNT. I will be happy to yield.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Just a note of thanks to the Mets for showing up and 
playing the Royals--they are a great team--and to give them some 
encouragement. The season starts with the Mets and Royals at Kauffman 
Stadium, so they can start all over again. It would be a good thing, 
perhaps, if the Mets made it again, and certainly with the Royals, and 
gave it a shot.

[[Page 17309]]

  I am very glad the Senator mentioned the incident where Hosmer 
decided to steal home. That was like Jackie Robinson back in the day 
when he was seeking to steal home. Who did that? And to do that in 
today's ball game, where people pitch only a certain amount of innings 
and players look to the manager to steal and do this and do that and 
everything is sort of in a box--the Royals played out of the box and 
they had fun.
  The reason they are all great players is because they played as a 
team, as my distinguished colleague from Missouri just pointed out. It 
was a lot of fun. It is going to be fun next year. Don't worry, Mets, 
you will have a chance again.
  Mr. BLUNT. There are a lot of life lessons watching the Royals. There 
might even be some lessons for us Senators watching the Royals and the 
way they do what they do.
  I yield the floor.

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