On a wild ride to Game 7, these Royals super fans are the cat’s meow
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – At 6 a.m. Wednesday, John Stoner strolled through John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., wearing a $75 outfit purchased online from a wrestling-supply shop. It is called Sprinkles the Cat Wrestling Singlet. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a skintight onesie with a giant picture of a cat on the front, hugging Stoner’s 200-some-odd pounds with unforgiving enthusiasm.
[Photos: Best of Giants-Royals in World Series Game 7]
Businessmen gave Stoner odd looks. TSA officers chuckled. Only when Stoner hit his layover in Phoenix did the recognition come. Ever since the day he and his friend Paul Long wore the singlets to Kauffman Stadium to salute the retiring Derek Jeter – Stoner held a sign that read “DEREK JETER” and Long had one that said “ONE CLASSY CAT” – they’ve been the sort of celebrities spawned by unexpected World Series runs.
The Kansas City Royals’ official mascot is a lion named Sluggerrr. Their unofficial mascot is a fan from South Korea named Sung Woo Lee. Their truest mascots are two native Kansas Citians who stuff themselves into spandex no matter how curvaceous it makes them look.
“You want to be humbled?” Long said. “Put one of these bad boys on in public.”
Outside the stadium before Game 7 of the World Series between the Royals and San Francisco Giants, Stoner and Long took pictures with bemused onlookers, fans who have seen the catsuit guys’ profile grow with every postseason Royals victory.
Stoner’s waistline has an inverse relationship with his celebrity status. Since the Jeter game, he has lost 40 pounds “because of this thing.” “Go back to the June pictures and the cat looks a lot fluffier,” Stoner said. “It’s way more 3-D. I quit eating fast food. Turned my life around. Except for the booze.”
He sipped on a Coors Light tallboy a few hours before the game, lubricating himself for the chill expected to descend over Kauffman Stadium as the night progressed. Between that and the playoff beard he has grown since opening day – “I thought this was the year,” Stoner said – he figured he could keep warm enough.
Stoner, 34, is an IT consultant, and he jetted back from California this morning to take in the game with the 33-year-old Long, his best friend, a motivational speaker who subscribes to a theory he created called Fundamism. Essentially, it’s having fun to have a better life, something the catsuits embody.
They’ve embarrassed themselves publicly for years to others’ delight. They used to paint SWEEN-DOG on their chests for Royals slugger Mike Sweeney, whom they happened to meet Wednesday afternoon. (Turns out his brother is a fan of Stoner and Long.) They bought a ticket to a game hoping to see former Royal Chili Davis hit his 300th home run – and when he did it the day before their game, they put CHILI 301 on their torsos. And, of course, there were the outings in Speedos, which prepared them for the catsuits.
Nothing could ready them for this – a Game 7 at home, one to decide the champion of the 2014 baseball season, where they’d root on their team and take in the joys that come with wearing a cat singlet.
The timing couldn’t be much better.
“Now that it’s getting cold,” Stoner said, “we need to get this year over with.”
Coverage of World Series Game 6 from Yahoo Sports:
