By the second week of classes, Christmas break feels like it was a lifetime ago. The bruises from your new hoverboard have started to fade, the leftovers have run out and that “Woo Pig Sooie” Razorback call has quit haunting your dreams.
But let us not forget the greatest gift we received over the Christmas break:
Alex Gordon is back with the Kansas City Royals.
This year’s offseason free-agency frenzy has been focused on whether or not the Royals could bring the face of the franchise back home to Kansas City. There was plenty of speculation that Gordon was just too far out of their price range.
A report from CBS Sports came out around Christmas saying Gordon had “no chance” of reaching an agreement with his hometown club, which can certainly put a damper on your holiday spirit when you’re trying to find the perfect spot on the tree for a “2015 World Series Champion” Christmas ornament.
About a week later, the Kansas City Star reported that the rumors about Gordon were in fact just rumors, and while Gordon was talking with several teams, the Royals weren’t out of the picture just yet.
Bringing Gordon back to Kansas City seemed like too much of a Disney movie to be possible in real life, and many times throughout Gordon’s free agency I found myself making up excuses to not re-sign him.
He’s going to be 32 in February. He only played 104 games last season due to a groin injury. Maybe he’d peaked and it was time for the slow, downward spiral of the end of a career.
Then there’s all that nostalgic stuff that makes franchise superstars so important to baseball teams. Highlights like the bottom of the ninth in Game 1 of the World Series, where Gordon smacked a home run that tied the game and set up a Royal win after 14 innings. He has four gold gloves and three All-Star game appearances.
Most of all, I remember being in grade school and thinking Gordon and David DeJesus were my favorite players because they were the two names I always remembered seeing on the roster. Gordon in anything but a Royals jersey just doesn’t make sense.
For the non-believers, Gordon still batted .271 in the 2015 season, the third highest batting average of his career. He still made the defensive highlights for his heroics in left field, including a leaping catch into the stands against the Chicago White Sox.
I may not have been around for all of the 29-year playoff drought, but I was around long enough to appreciate what’s happened in Kansas City over the past two seasons. While the Royals bought back Gordon for four more years at $72 million, you can’t put a price tag on the chemistry of this Royals team and the spark Gordon brings.
The Royals’ home opener is just over two months away and will be a rematch with the New York Mets. Gordo Nation isn’t going anywhere.
