By Seth Herrold
On Wednesday, Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners headlined baseball news, throwing the 23rd perfect game in Major League Baseball history. Hernandez was brilliant in his outing, cruising through the Tampa Bay lineup three full times. As the game wore one, Hernandez only got stronger.
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The perfect game thrown by ‘King Felix,’ as they call him, was a big deal, but far from shocking. Over the past three or four years he has been as good as any pitcher in baseball, winning the Cy Young Award in 2010. All perfect games are marvels to behold, but Hernandez won’t be remembered solely for his perfect game whereas someone like Oakland’s Dallas Braden will.
The fans in Seattle love Hernandez. He has a huge following of fans called ‘The King’s Court’ that show up in yellow t-shirts for every one of his home starts. The Mariners are a bad ball club, but they have huge crowds every fifth day when the King is on the hill. Folks have taken to calling every fifth day, when Hernandez starts, “Felix Day.” When Hernandez is on the hill, the Mariners, a team that lost a lot (as their 55-64 record indicates), has a very good chance to win. I might mention that their record is still better than the Royals’ mark, though.
Royals fans know exactly how this feels. A few years ago, Zack Greinke was packing fans into Kauffman Stadium to watch another bad Royals team. Like it is in Seattle now, however, Greinke gave Kansas City a really great opportunity to win a ballgame every fifth day. Greinke won the Cy Young Award in 2009, the year before Felix. He was a celebrated figure around Kansas City.
Now here are the two differences between King Felix and Greinke. One, Felix is a better pitcher, and two, Felix is loyal. Hernandez, whether he is saying what the fans want to hear or not, has said before in interviews and in tweets that he wants to stay in Seattle and remain a Mariner. He even signed a contract extension with the club. The Mariners are a bad team, but he likes the city and likes playing there. Management is doing its part, refusing to trade him and trading off aging stars like Ichiro Suzuki for young talent they hope to place around Hernandez. Felix trusts the process and all this makes the fans love him even more.
Greinke was the polar opposite in this aspect. He didn’t like Kansas City, didn’t trust management even when they were building baseball’s best farm system and eventually demanded to be traded away. Greinke made the city and the fans happy but, in the end, he left with more people hating him than loving him. Now there are those that were sorry to see him go even after his actions in parting ways with the Royals: the Greinke die-hards who shut out all the bad and only remember the good. These are the fans that still have the Greinke Sports Illustrated cover hanging on the wall in a frame. They are also the ones saying Kansas City should go after him when he becomes a free agent and bring him back to Kansas City where he made his Major League debut.
I do not fall into that category. Yes, Kansas City desperately needs an ace pitcher. Let’s face it, they need a lot of pitching help. But I absolutely do not want to see Greinke return to town. There are plenty of other pitchers out there to sign. Honestly, if this season happens again next year, Greinke would want out before the All-Star break. Billy Butler said it best when Greinke left, “We want guys who want to be here.”
Maybe I hold grudges too long and maybe I’m not looking at what is best for the team, but I don’t want Zack Greinke anywhere near my team.