Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals 7-8-08

The Negro League Baseball Museum is in Kansas City (http://www.nlbm.com/). It seemed only fitting that on our baseball stadium tour, we visit the museum that celebrates the Negro Leagues, an important part of baseball history. It was outstanding. Lots of memorabilia, pictures, and videos. They also had a field set up with statues of the preeminent players at each position (e.g., Satchel Paige pitching, Josh Gibson catching). When I walked on the field, I felt like I was intruding on a game.

In the same complex, they have set up the American Jazz Museum (http://www.americanjazzmuseum.com/). I enjoyed it. However, to me, Ken Burns' PBS Jazz special did a much better job of telling the story of jazz. Lots of listening areas to experience the music.

While in Kansas City, I had to pay homage to the Lieber and Stoller song "Kansas City" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q978YtUlMBk). We went to 12th Street and Vine, took a few pictures and left (it's not in the best neighborhood).

After the museum tours, we were starved. The Food Network Channel had recommended LC's Bar-B-Q so we tried it. Outstanding!! For you Cincinnatians ... it was much better than Montgomery Inn. Meatier ribs, spicier sauce, and ridiculous quantities. It's a small place, but exactly what you'd expect a local Bar-B-Q joint to be like. Here's a link to a web site that discusses LC's: http://cityguide.aol.com/kansascity/entertainment/lcs-bar-b-q/v-111836067

The Kansas City stadium was surprising nice for a 30+ year old stadium. The "K", short for Kauffman the original owner of the Royals, is being renovated. They're doing it during the baseball season so they'll be ready for 2009. We got seats in the club level to be under cover since it rained most of the day and drizzled throughout the game. The "K" had the biggest, and incredibly clearest Jumbotron we've seen. They have great fountains although not nearly as good as the Bellagio fountains :-) I really liked their bottom of the 8th ritual ... they have a 100ft tall video image of Garth Brooks leading the fans in singing 'I've Got Friends in Low Places'. I had to be impressed ... it's one of my favorite songs.

The game was a good one. The Royals seemed to be in control the whole way, but the White Sox kept pecking away. The game went to extra innings with the White Sox winning 8-7 in 13 innings. The Sox scored 2 in the top of the 11th on a 2 run sacrifice fly (check out the video in the link below), but the Royals prolonged the agony by scoring 2 in the bottom of the 11th. Orlando Cabrera drove in the winning run with a double. Here's the link to the box score: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_07_08_chamlb_kcamlb_1&mode=wrap

Here's a link to our pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14772189@N03/sets/

The All Important Hot Dog Rating with a caveat ... we were stuffed from eating LC's Bar-B-Q. We shared a hot dog (from a kiosk of course). It must have been good because we weren't hungry and we both enjoyed it. Good flavor, great sauerkraut. We both gave it a "9" although it might have been rated higher had we been hungry. It certainly tasted better than the hot dog I caught during the 'throw the hot dogs to the fans between innings' promotion. Nancy had a Budweiser wheat beer. She was still thirsty from the Bar-B-Q so I suppose any beer would have tasted good.

We've now visited 21 of 30 stadiums ... we're 70% of the way there. Today, we head back to Cincinnati for 2 weeks of rest, recuperation and planning for the East Coast trip. It has been an amazing set of trips.