After the streak

So if you read the sports pages even glancingly, you probably know that our Kansas City Royals are in the midst of a losing streak the likes of which Major League Baseball has rarely seen, let alone Triple-A baseball, which is where the Royals belong about now.

I'm interested in this only as a media critic. I long ago lost interest in the Royals, ever since it became clear that the owner, whose money came from Wal-Mart, was interested in everyday low prices -- not value. (Is Costco's CEO shopping for a team?) Minnesota, Oakland, Cleveland and Houston are all competing in divisions where other teams make more and spend more than they do. That we're not following suit isn't the fault of economic disparities or Kansas City's market size or anything other than a failure of will. That's a downer when you think of it, so we won't.

Instead, let's talk about another season-killing streak and how the media played a part in softening the pain after it ended.

In 1988 I was living in Washington, D.C., and the Baltimore Orioles were still playing in Memorial Stadium. The Orioles began 0-21, a mark of season-opening futility that will probably stand for all time. Finally, two games short of the all-time record, the O's won a game, 9-0, against the White Sox in Chicago. By May first, 1988 was already a rebuilding year for the Orioles, who would finish 54-107.

When the team returned to Baltimore for its first home stand post-streak, the flagship radio and TV stations of the Orioles decided to make a promotional extravaganza of it. They urged fans to come see the team play its first game since putting a 1 in the W column. There were discounted ticket prices, giveaways every inning -- even marching bands.

No one quite knew what would happen. But that night, 50,402 people showed up. "It was only the 23rd time in 35 seasons the Orioles have drawn 50,000 at Memorial Stadium," the Washington Post reported, "but the first to celebrate a team just for the sake of celebrating it."

What a night. A kid called up from Triple-A that day walked into Memorial Stadium for the first time and got 26 outs for the O's, who won 9-4.  I was listening to the game on the radio, and it was pure pandemonium. The home team batted through the order in the fourth inning, and the din just seemed to get louder and louder. Finally, I couldn't stand it -- I got myself in front of a TV set so I could see the madness for myself.

The players were touched by the outpouring of support. Baltimore cared about its team, and one reason is that ownership made sure that love was always requited, at least in the community if not always on the ballfield. It had been a tense few months even before the losing streak. Edward Bennett Williams, the attorney and managing partner of the Orioles, had been negotiating for months to relocate the team to a new downtown stadium. Most people thought Memorial, which was uptown near Johns Hopkins University, was a perfectly decent place to see a game (myself included).

But finally, the city, state, and owner came to terms, and a 15-year deal was signed and announced that very day. Yes, the road to Camden Yards started on that impromptu Orioles Appreciation Night, when the home team was 1-21 and still reeling. It didn't save their season, but it was indicative of the civic spirit -- fueled by the local media -- that would usher the team into those glory years on the Inner Harbor, when the O's would lead the entire American League in attendance and Cal Ripken would give everybody something to cheer about.

There couldn't be a sharper contrast to what's going on in Kansas City. Our team blows. The owner won't invest. And that downtown stadium? Forget it. Earlier this year, ownership announced it wouldn't push for one. Still, it wouldn't be baseball if we couldn't think optimistically about the future. That's why RSTN, the Royals' television arm, and WHB Radio need to start planning a celebration for the Royals for their return from the West Coast, whether the streak is over or not. And no, we're not talking about throwing another party for the 1985 Royals who won the World Series (though I did find it funny that last weekend's 20th anniversary get-together at the ballpark was washed out).

Forget how outmatched the Royals are. Forget that we're second-to-last in attendance, ahead of only Tampa Bay, whose management is even more fickle toward fans than ours. We've got a team in Kansas City, one that has a chance -- some year, hopefully in the 21st century -- of returning to glory again. That's worth a party.  First, though, we have some history to make. We have 18 straight losses -- do I hear 24?

Update: Streak ended Saturday night as the Royals won 2-1 in Oakland. On Friday, the Royals lost their 19th in a row, falling to the A's 4-0. That came just hours after the team's indecisive owner finally endorsed a plan by Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt to renovate both stadium at the Harry S. Truman Sports Complex, mostly with taxpayer dollars, and ensure that whatever woes the two occupants were suffering, the issue of leaving Kansas City (a very real one in the local psyche, at least) would be off the table.

The Royals next play in Kansas City on Tuesday night against the Boston Red Sox. Whether the streak is alive or not, this is the ideal time for the flagship stations to pack people into Kauffman Stadium. I'll even accept a temporary reduction in my world-class rock if the locally-owned sister station of the team's flagship goes all-Royals on Tuesday.