On a quiet spring morning last year, Jeff Montgomery slipped into a blue practice jersey, pulled on a pair of white pants and made his way out to the back fields at the Royals’ spring training complex.
Montgomery, a Royals Hall of Famer and the franchise’s career saves leader, had come to camp to take part in the club’s alumni instructor program at minor-league spring training, an annual week where former Royals don uniforms and mingle with the team’s prospects. So it was, on this sun-baked morning, that Montgomery found himself here at the base of the Art Stewart Tower, an observation deck that overlooks a cloverleaf of fields, kibitzing with a group of young pitchers.