Yoder Throws A Curve

Not a bad gig, getting to throw out the first pitch on a night when the Yankees are in town, the home Royals are celebrating a 1980 pennant, and a near sell-out crowd is enjoying a warm summer’s eve. Not bad, especially if you’re running for Congress.

Hanging with the family at Kauffman Stadium last Saturday, I was surprised to see Kansas State Rep. Kevin Yoder get the nod from the dugout to take the mound. Hey wait, isn’t he running…for…Congress? Indeed. 3rd District. Kansas. And it would seem odd that the Royals would be in the business of campaigning for a candidate. Heck they’re just campaigning for wins right now.

Did some sniffing, and it turns out Yoder threw the team a curve ball. Rather, AT&T did. The telecom giant was the evening’s sponsor. As such, the sponsor gets to name the “first pitch” starting pitcher. AT&T’s line-up card called on Yoder. Trouble is, no one with the Royals caught the campaign connection, until it was too late, just hours before first pitch. According to a Royal’s source…Yoder slipped throught he cracks. It was purely an oversight (despite the non-attributed claim by another blog in town…the Royals are NOT endorsing Yoder).

In fact, when Yoder was introduced, there was no mention of his role as a state lawmaker, as a candidate, as a Republican. Zip, nada, nothing. The casual baseball fan probably didn’t pick up on it either. No one in my section did. In fact, they were busy buying ballpark beers.

None too pleased, the Stephene Moore camp. I’m told if they have a Royals sponsor willing to pencil her in as their starting “first pitch” pitcher, the Royals will honor that call to the bullpen.

As for Yoder…he threw a slow curve…for a strike!

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