One Year Ago…

A lot can change in a year.

Last year this time, I was within three weeks of being laid off from my managerial job of nearly four years and taking some “me” time to gear up for the upcoming job search.  It was a crazy time – a bit scary, a bit relieving (in its own way), but it was certainly a time of change.

To bide my time during the day, I bookmarked everything Royals I could find, went on a Twitter following spree and immersed myself in everything Royals.  With spring training in gear, and with time on my hands, I wanted every update out there.

One day on my Google Reader, I saw a post calling for contributing writers.  By this point I’d already been reading article after article about Kansas City, which, building off my years and years of fandom, made me think it was worth a shot.  One article a week?  With no other obligations aside from job searching, I was signing up.

I’d never really written about baseball before.  Sure, there were messageboard posts and status updates on Facebook.  But 1000 words was a daunting task to me at first, so I wasn’t sure how to approach my “try out” article.  In fact, I wrote one entirely different from what I eventually turned in, writing a full column and deleting it and starting over.

Lead writer (at the time) Wally Fish apparently liked it and invited me aboard (and by the way, he’s now the lead writer on PuckettsPond.com – you should stop by).

That was one year ago today.  Here’s his announcement:

Clipped from: kingsofkauffman.com (share this clip)

It’s fitting that the anniversary falls this week, considering that it’s been a pretty big week at Kings of Kauffman.  First, we kicked off the Royalman Report co-hosted by yours truly (but mostly due to the efforts of Royalman).  Then we introduced two new contributors – Ryan Wood and Jeff Herr (and maybe we’re not done there, either …)

Even weirder, in a week when Gage Matthews brings it strong in today’s article about Vin Mazzaro, it’s worth noting that my first post on Kings of Kauffman was concerned with the Royals fifth starter going into 2010.

Clipped from: kingsofkauffman.com (share this clip)

A year ago, Zack Greinke was coming off a Cy Young year, Gil Meche was still an active player, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas were trying to rebound from poor seasons, and nobody had really heard of Tim Collins.

I want to offer my sincere thanks to all the readers who stop by.  I’m sure I’d write in some capacity about the Royals if I could, but I don’t know that I’d get the energy I do without knowing that we have a consistent group that stops by every day. Your comments and readership make this the easiest hobby to take up.  I also want to thank the staff we’ve had on board since I joined up.  You guys are awesome.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank Wally for introducing me to this scene.

Even if I did suggest Kyle Farnsworth as the fifth starter last year.

Stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.