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KC Royals: Eric Hosmer And Teammates Honor KC Firefighters

By Alec Tilson

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The Kansas City Royals take on the Houston Astros in a deciding Game 5 tonight at Kauffman Stadium.

As if you needed another reason to like this KC Royals team, this story hits.

First baseman Eric Hosmer, third baseman Mike Moustakas and teammates honored two Kansas City firefighters who were killed fighting a late-night apartment fire Monday. The fire occurred on Independence Avenue near Prospect, according to The Kansas City Star‘s Robert A. Cronkleton.

Hosmer is the son of a retired Miami lieutenant firefighter, so this one was certainly personal for the Royals’ young corner infielder. (via KC Star)

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Hosmer and Moustakas wore Kansas City Fire Department shirts during batting practice yesterday, while other members of the Royals wore KCFD gear as well, according to FoxSports.com‘s Dave Skretta.

If Hosmer wasn’t a world-class baseball talent, he might have ended up in a far less-appreciated career field, according to Skretta:

"“That was the career I was going to pursue,” Hosmer said. “I grew up in the firehouse. I would always go visit the guys, and just seeing the bond they have, there’s a lot of similarities to the bond we have here.”"

Skretta provided further details on the firefighters who fought the blaze:

"The firefighters who died were identified as Larry Leggio and John Mesh. Two others were injured when part of the building collapsed late Monday in Kansas City, Missouri. Two people were rescued."

All of a sudden, this game tonight seems a lot smaller. This isn’t do or die, or life or death. It’s a baseball game. The sun comes up tomorrow. If we’re lucky enough, we wake up in the morning and life goes on.

Still, it speaks to the maturity and the mindset of Hosmer, the 25-year-old Gold Glover the Royals selected number three overall in the 2008 MLB Draft.

Recently, he wrote a piece for the The Players’ Tribune, and again showed why he’s unquestionably one of the driving forces behind this Royals team’s success. (via ThePlayersTribune.com):

"While every other contender right now is playing with the goal of proving that they belong this year — for us the stakes are even higher. For us, we feel like we aren’t just playing for this year … we’re playing for last year as well.We’re playing to win the pennant. But we’re also playing to prove that last year’s pennant was real. We’re playing to prove that the “heartbreaking ending” to our season was only one of those things: That yeah, it was heartbreaking. But it wasn’t an ending at all."

The piece was called “No Fluke.” And it’s a fitting title.

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