Holiday Q&A with Royals Broadcaster Lefebvre

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December 22, 2017 But having four young children, it really brings back LOCAL memories of childhood -- Santa Claus, Christmas morning, seeing the excitement on the faces of my children. We do the reindeer food the night before, Santa food. And Sarah and I Holiday Q&A with Royals go all out. On Christmas Eve, we put some big boot broadcaster Lefebvre footprints in the ashes in the fireplace to make it look like December 21, 2017 By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com Santa had been there. https://www.mlb.com/royals/news/royals-broadcaster-ryan- lefebvre-holiday-qa/c-263707168 MLB.com: What's your favorite Christmas of all time?

Take a sneak peek inside the Urban Lefebvre: I don't know if I can single out just one. But I think Youth Academy before it opens in I'd go with the Christmas times we had at my great- grandmother's house in Los Angeles when I was a kid. I was March an only child for most of my youth and we'd go to her house December 21, 2017 By Pete Grathoff/KC Star -- she had this tiny little house and there were about 40 http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city- family members. Very special memories. royals/article191107779.html Historic homers, walk-off hits will be MLB.com: What's your favorite Christmas present you ever replayed for Royals’ Christmas Eve received? marathon Lefebvre: I got a Big Trak in the fifth grade and that was December 21, 2017 By Maria Torres/KC Star pretty great. It was kind of a sci-fi futuristic tank that you http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city- could program to move around the house just about anywhere royals/article191075094.html you wanted it to go. And then in the sixth or seventh grade, I got a Walkman, which back then was the absolute thing to Royals’ minor-league team made a have. campy video for its holiday ‘sing-a- MLB.com: What's your favorite Christmas present you ever long album’ gave? December 21, 2017 By Pete Grathoff/KC Star http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for- Lefebvre: That's a tough one. I'll say it's the air hockey game petes-sake/article190978264.html we're giving the kids this year. I hope they like it. We spent a lot of money on it!

NATIONAL MLB.com: Does your family open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Hall of Fame broadcaster Enberg dies Lefebvre: We do Christmas morning at our house. My mom's at 82 side of the family always did Christmas Eve. My dad's side December 22, 2017 By AJ Cassavell/MLB.com was Christmas morning. I know there were times we used to https://www.mlb.com/news/hof-broadcaster-dick-enberg- try to open just one present on Christmas Eve and then the dies-at-82/c-263928772 rest on Christmas morning. But that never worked out -- MLB TRANSACTIONS somebody would open one on Christmas Eve and maybe December 22, 2017 •.CBSSports.com didn't like it, so they'd have to open another. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions Take a sneak peek inside the Urban Youth Academy before it opens in LOCAL March December 21, 2017 By Pete Grathoff/KC Star Holiday Q&A with Royals http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city- royals/article191107779.html broadcaster Lefebvre December 21, 2017 By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com It would be an oversimplification to say the Kansas City https://www.mlb.com/royals/news/royals-broadcaster-ryan- Urban Youth Academy will just be a place to play baseball. lefebvre-holiday-qa/c-263707168 Darwin Pennye, the academy’s director, is thinking much Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre has a lot of fond bigger than that. On Thursday, Pennye gave a tour of the memories of Christmas. No other holiday brings as much joy facility, which is set for a grand opening on March 30, 2018, to Lefebvre and his family. the day after the Royals’ season opener.

MLB.com caught up with the veteran play-by-play voice to There are four outdoor fields of various sizes, an indoor talk about the happiness of the holiday season. regulation major-league size infield with bases that can move between 60 and 90 feet away, as well as batting cages and MLB.com: What do you like most about Christmas? pitching mounds at the site in the 18th & Vine Jazz District.

Lefebvre: From a faith standpoint, it's pretty much resetting Pennye said that softball is also a big focus. the clock for me. It reminds me of the true meaning of Christmas. “It’s important for us, because softball right now doesn’t exist in the urban core of Kansas City,” he said. “None of our five inner-city high schools have teams that they field right All-Star nod. One of his early gems came against the Giants now, so for us to come alongside of them and to start girls at Kauffman Stadium, where he outdueled Madison from the grassroots ... to have opportunities that may extend Bumgarner in a 2-0 win. into college and to put them in a position to have success on the field, we feel like that’s a great opportunity for us.” 5 p.m.: Aug. 23 vs. Colorado

The Urban Youth Academy received a softball pitching In late August, Greg Holland was back at Kauffman Stadium machine on Thursday as part of a gift from Wyatt Benteman, for the first time since he wore a Royals uniform. The Royals a Blue Valley Northwest High School student who collected dedicated a pregame video montage to their former closer on money and equipment as part of his Eagle Scout project. the first night of the series. Benteman had been collecting donations since the end of September, and people had given him gloves, bats, balls, But when Holland took the mound for the first time in the bags and more. series the following day, former teammate Eric Hosmer didn’t take it easy on him. Hosmer unleashed his swing on Benteman, 16, no longer plays baseball, but hoped to one day Holland’s 86 mph slider, a hanging pitch that came in above return to the Urban Youth Academy, and that’s just what Hosmer’s beltline, and drilled the baseball into the right field Pennye hopes many kids will do. corner for a three-run, walk-off homer. It was the first walk- off homer of Hosmer’s career. The facility has training room and will employee a full-time trainer, but college students working toward a degree will 7 p.m.: June 23 vs. Toronto have the opportunity to get real-world experience at the academy. There are two classrooms that will used to teach A soldout crowd at Kauffman Stadium watched Whit about careers around baseball. Merrifield, the seventh batter in the ninth inning, stroke a two-run double into deep left field to seal a four-run, walk- Pennye envisions a day, perhaps a decade from now, when off rally. The improbable 5-4 win got the Royals back to .500 fans will come to Kauffman Stadium and see Urban Youth for the first time since mid-April. Academy graduates play for the Royals (or another team), while others are working as umpires, accountants, lawyers, 9 p.m.: June 6 vs. Houston journalists, broadcasters or in marketing or IT. The Royals trailed 7-3 after seven innings against the “We’re taking a very holistic approach to it, because we eventual World Series champion Astros. But a four-run rally know the difficulties that go along with trying to become a in the eighth and a two-run, walkoff homer from Moustakas Major League Baseball player, a Division I-level baseball or snapped the Astros’ 11-game winning streak. softball player, just an elite-level amateur,” Pennye said. Royals’ minor-league team made a “Everybody doesn’t have the same amount of talent, but we do feel like everybody can produce the same amount of work campy video for its holiday ‘sing-a- ethic, so we want to expose them to careers that exist in and long album’ around sport, if they so choose.” December 21, 2017 By Pete Grathoff/KC Star Historic homers, walk-off hits will be http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for- replayed for Royals’ Christmas Eve petes-sake/article190978264.html marathon It’s baseball’s offseason, but the Royals’ Class AAA affiliate December 21, 2017 By Maria Torres/KC Star has been busy spreading holiday cheer. http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city- royals/article191075094.html The Omaha Storm Chasers made a video for an imaginary holiday album that is so purposely awful that it’s hilarious. Fox Sports Kansas City will air its annual Christmas Eve From the over-the-top Christmas backgrounds to the marathon of Royals’ games from the past season beginning at questionable singing to the “acting,” it’s a campy masterpiece 1 p.m. Sunday. for “Holiday Sing-A-Long Album Vol. II.”

If you can find time to spend idly on the couch, you’ll be able Lyrics to some of the songs include “It’s beginning to look a to catch several historic moments during the replays. lot like baseball,” “Merry Christmas and I like Frank Schwindel” and “We Whit You a Merry Christmas” (that last Here is a look at the schedule of games: song is from Vol. I).

1 p.m.: Sept. 20 at Toronto Take a look: (click link for video)

After nearly a month spent battling a knee injury, Mike Moustakas crushed his 37th homer of the season into the NATIONAL visitors bullpen at Rogers Centre. It was his first home run in 15 games — and it made history, breaking the 32-year-old franchise record for most single-season homers set by Steve Hall of Fame broadcaster Enberg dies Balboni in 1985. The Royals won 15-5. at 82 December 22, 2017 By AJ Cassavell/MLB.com 3 p.m.: April 19 vs. San Francisco https://www.mlb.com/news/hof-broadcaster-dick-enberg- dies-at-82/c-263928772 Jason Vargas was arguably one of the best starters in baseball during the first half of the season, racking up American For half a century, the biggest moments in sports were often League bests in wins (12) and ERA (2.62) and earning an accompanied by the warm and inviting tones of Dick Enberg's voice. Enberg, who won the 2015 National Baseball Born and raised in Michigan, Enberg earned his bachelor's Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award and earned equivalent degree at Central Michigan University and got his first honors from the football and basketball Halls of Fame, experience broadcasting college athletics at Indiana passed away on Thursday. He was 82. University. He began a full-time broadcasting career at KTLA in Los Angeles, serving as a voice for UCLA Enberg is the only person to win an Emmy as a sports basketball, Los Angeles Rams football and California Angels broadcaster, writer and producer, and during his ceremony in baseball games. He gained fame calling the dominant Bruins Cooperstown, he deemed the Frick Award "the culmination" basketball teams of the 1970s, and also called the famous of his professional life behind the microphone. Enberg 1979 NCAA championship game featuring Indiana State's concluded a career that spanned six decades with seven Larry Bird and Michigan State's Magic Johnson. seasons as the play-by-play voice of the San Diego Padres from 2010-16. Enberg joined NBC Sports in 1975, when he got his first experience calling MLB postseason contests. The Angels "We are immensely saddened by the sudden and unexpected hired him back to broadcast for the team in 1985 before he passing of legendary broadcaster Dick Enberg," read a went on to be a national voice once again for CBS Sports. statement from Padres ownership. "Dick was an institution in Throughout his career, Enberg called nine no-hitters, noting the industry for 60 years and we were lucky enough to have upon his retirement, "There's no drama like that in any other his iconic voice behind the microphone for Padres games for sport." nearly a decade. On behalf of our entire organization, we send our deepest condolences to his wife, Barbara, and the Enberg regularly recounted the story of how he received his entire Enberg family." first job in the business. In his early 20s, he walked into a Mount Pleasant, Mich., radio station in search of a custodial In a 50-year career, Enberg called 42 NFL seasons, 28 job. Instead, he was given work as a weekend disc jockey and Wimbledon tennis tournaments, 15 NCAA basketball title local sports show host. games, 10 Super Bowls, nine Rose Bowls and the 1982 World Series. He earned 14 Emmy awards and nine "What if I had been given the job I wanted?" Enberg often Sportscaster of the Year awards. Name a major sporting quipped, with a wry grin. event, chances are Enberg called it. Instead, more than half a century later, Enberg has passed "He was the voice of my childhood in sports," said Padres away as an icon in the sports world, one of the most fabled color commentator Mark Grant, who worked alongside and soothing voices the industry has ever known. Enberg for seven seasons. "He was the voice that when you MLB TRANSACTIONS heard it on a game, it mattered. Football, Wimbledon, college December 22, 2017 •.CBSSports.com basketball, Super Bowls, his resume speaks for itself. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions "It was an honor to sit next to him for seven years. Here I am as a little kid, 8 years old, watching UCLA basketball games TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION with my dad in the basement of our house, and Dick Enberg is doing the game. Fast forward in my career, and all of a sudden, I'm sitting next to him, talking about Padres baseball. It's surreal. You find out that people who you admire are Milwaukee Radhames Signed to a Minor League regular people, too. They have passions about certain things. They have good hearts. It's sad, it really is. I honestly thought Brewers Liz Contract Dick was going to be a guy who was going to live to like 105."

Baseball, Enberg constantly reiterated, was always his first Danny Signed to a Minor League love. He served as a teacher and baseball coach at San Atlanta Braves Fernando Valley State College from 1962-65. It was there Santana Contract that he developed his two signature catchphrases: "Oh, my!" and "Touch 'em all!"

Enberg called his first Major League Baseball game in 1969 Signed to a Minor League and spent time on Angels and national broadcasts for parts of Chicago Cubs Taylor Davis Contract the next two decades. He called his 2015 ceremony in Cooperstown "the greatest weekend of my life."

"I've loved this game as far back as I can remember, being teethed on a baseball bat," said Enberg upon the Signed to a Minor League Miami Marlins Jacob Turner announcement that he'd be honored in Cooperstown. "To Contract have this, and my love for a sport, it's too good to be true, especially in light of those who are so qualified to earn this Ford C. Frick Award."

Enberg's colleagues from around the broadcasting world Milwaukee Yovani Signed as Free Agent, ( 2018) immediately took to social media to convey their sadness of Brewers Gallardo (one-year contract) his passing, while also celebrating one of the most beloved members of the industry. Milwaukee Dylan Baker Designated for Assignment Brewers

Milwaukee Jhoulys Signed as Free Agent, ( 2018- Brewers Chacin 2019)(two-year contract)

San Francisco Signed to a Minor League Josh Rutledge Giants Contract

Signed to a Minor League Texas Rangers Paolo Espino Contract

Signed to a Minor League Texas Rangers Brett Eibner Contract

Signed to a Minor League Texas Rangers Zeke Spruill Contract

Shawn Signed to a Minor League Texas Rangers Tolleson Contract

Washington Signed to a Minor League Chris Smith Nationals Contract

Washington Brandon Signed as Free Agent, ( 2018; Nationals Kintzler Opt 2019)(one-year contract)