Darryl Motley. I carried that name around like a passport—a sign that no matter where I went, I was still a Royals fan. Darryl Motley, because that’s the name of the right fielder who caught the final out in the 1985 World Series, transporting me to little-boy heaven in small-town Kansas. And Darryl Motley because before Google, that fact used to be an obscure bit of trivia. It showed I knew my Royals history. Or better, my Royals lore.
Because around the time I left for college, the 1985 Royals became mythical. And not necessarily in a good way.