Fred White, who announced Kansas City Royals baseball games on the radio for 25 years, was the speaker at Thursday’s Trenton Rotary Club meeting. John Anthony was the program chairman.
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White, who now serves as director of broadcasting services and alumni for the Royals, discussed the upcoming season, which begins on March 31 as well as told stories from past years, including several about the 1985 World Series, won by the Royals over the St. Louis Cardinals. He expects the 2008 edition of the Royals to be improved, noting that the team is in the toughest division of baseball. With a new general manager, Dayton Moore, and a new manager, Trey Hillman, White said he expects the team to continue to improve in the next several years and get back to the success the Royals had in the 1970s and 1980s, when the team was a constant qualifier for post-season play.
He referred to George Brett as the best player to ever come through the Royals organization, but called Bo Jackson the best athlete. White said that had Jackson worked at baseball and not just played it as a job, he could have been a hall of famer. While he believed Willie Wilson was faster on the bases than Jackson, White said Jackson was certainly faster in a straight run.
During the business meeting, President Chris Hoffman read a letter that announced Gov. Matt Blunt had declared Feb. 23 as Rotary Day in Missouri. Becky Albrecht passed around the sign-up sheet for the fifth and sixth grade basketball tournament next week.
Membership/Development Chairman Matt Krohn announced that “Guest Day” would be held during the April 17 meeting and each member was asked to bring a prospective member. He said work is also being done to organize a family night activity in April. The goal is to gain a net five members for the year.
Next week’s program chairman is Phil Hoffman. It will be agriculture day.