The career of Alex Gordon ended on the last day of the baseball season, 2020. And as he bid adieu to the game, the Kansas City Royals outfielder was forced to leave to an empty stadium.
For the previous 13 years, Kansas City Royals outfielder Alex Gordon, had walked off the field on the last day of the season, to a cheering crowd. As he walked off at the end of his 14th and final season, there was no crowd to celebrate him.
His hitting career ended just as it had begun, with a strikeout. However, in the 14 years he played for the Royals he accumulated over sixteen hundred hits and just shy of two hundred home runs. He won several Gold Glove Awards, was an All-Star three times, and brought a World Championship home in 2015.
A kid who grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, not too far from Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City, Gordon earned the right to be showered with love from his adopted home town. Gordon played for one franchise in his career, and the loyalty was shared by the Royals.
Had this been a normal baseball season, Gordon would have been removed from the field mid-inning to a thunderous ovation. He would have bowed to the fans in the left field bleachers, and maybe given some of the fans high fives down the baselines. The crowd would have erupted in applause drawing him out of the dugout for a curtain call or two.
Alex Gordon exits the field for the final time pic.twitter.com/kf1fk4fZRJ
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) September 27, 2020
As it was, Gordon departed the game in front of an empty stadium. A few cardboard cutouts were in attendance, as were some members of his family, sitting high above in a press box.
The last chapter of his playing days has been written, though it didn’t really feel like Alex Gordon got to ride off into the sunset the way he deserved to.
The Kansa City Royals may ask him back next year, to throw out the first pitch on opening day, or to give him a farewell present in front of a large audience. Won’t be the same though. He has missed the opportunity to be showered with praise in the moment.
Kudos on a great career Alex, and best of luck in the future.