One of the reasons that I love baseball so much is for its myths, its stories. "America's game" is filled with all sorts of tales and some are taller than others: the story of Abner Doubleday creating the game of baseball, Babe Ruth's "called shot" in the 1932 World Series. We still create myths today and the catalysts for creating these stories are still largely the same: influential individuals, coverage on national media outlets, and entertainment. Some of these myths are based in truth but are yarned out over and over so often that they tend to produce a tapestry that obstructs other myths from being created. In other words, the prevailing myth continues to prevail regardless of truth.
Earlier today I was reading this post over at one of my favorite blogs, Royals Review. The post itself discussed the intrastate St. Louis/Kansas City rivalry and mentions the notion that Cardinals fans are "the best fans in baseball." I agree that Cardinals fans are good fans (I've attended 25-30 games in St. Louis in my life), I'm just not sure that they're the "best." I guess I need to set the ground rules for what constitutes "best" for me. For one, being "the best fans in baseball" means pure dedication to team regardless of success. You are never embarrassed to wear that cap out in public and you're going to attend games no matter the time of year or where your team is in the standings. Secondly, to be the best you must have knowledge of the players on the field and your team's history.
Cards fans do have these qualities but I'd argue that it's a lot easier for them because of the success factor. It's easy to be a Cardinals fan just the same way that it's easy to be a Yankees fan. The knowledge is something that is learned and must be worked on, but Cardinals fan have lived in such a cloud of success and history for so long that they can almost simply absorb it through osmosis. The Cardinals have national media backing their myth of being "the best fans in baseball," we hear it every time the Redbirds play on ESPN or FOX. The Cardinals also have the benefit of individuals with St. Louis ties in the national media like Joe Buck and Bob Costas along with a historic national sports magazine, The Sporting News, based in their city.
The Kansas City Royals don't have these national media outlets or the myth of having the best fan base in the major leagues but I'd put Royals rooters right up at the top of my list of best fans. I lived in Kansas for about four years and attended probably 30-35 games over the course of that time. I was so impressed with the fan base (not what I saw on the field) that I adopted the Royals as my American League team. Royals fans, just like Cardinals fans, come from a large geographic area - Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Arkansas - some of which overlap with "Cardinal Country." I've been to Royals games late in the season, the team is well out the race, it's getting cold, and there is a 12-2 score in favor of the opposition and 18,000-20,000 Royals fans continue to cheer. Teenage K.C. fans continue to sport their blue caps even though they can't remember the success of their team. Sit next to a Royals fan at Kauffman Stadium and you're more likely than not to get a good baseball conversation. I can't say this about all fan bases, even the one that's most near and dear to my heart, the Reds.
Cincinnati Reds fans, just as Cardinals and Royals fans, come from miles around - Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia - but in my experiences of going to games at Great American Ball Park (I can't remember much of my experiences at Riverfront) there are a lot of people that aren't there to watch the game. Sure you're going to get fans like that anywhere, and even a few in St. Louis and Kansas City, but from my own personal experience, there are less of those types in St.L. and K.C. than in Cincy. I've sat next to people at GABP that talked the entire game about matters that had nothing to do with baseball, people who've spent more time watching the screen on their phone than the area between the pitcher's mound and home plate, those that really had no clue about the current Reds players. Last season, a 35-ish year old lady behind me asked the person next to her, "Why isn't Sean Casey* playing tonight?" the reply was, "I don't know, he must be hurt or something." I'd like to think that Reds fans are the "best fans in baseball" but I can't, Royals fans have us beat.
On a sour note, the Royals look to be on the bottom of MLB payroll projections for 2011.
*Here's come recent BCB-worthy news on Sean Casey.
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