Shenandoah Iowa: KMA-AM 960

Miles from Kansas City: 138 miles
Population: 5,546

The "seed and nursery center of the world" Shenandoah is one of six radio affiliates in Iowa, a state the Royals are only barely remaining viable in. Shenandoah is the rare small city that straddles two counties, in this case Fremont and Page counties, although the vast majority of the city lies in the latter. Both counties have endured substantial population loss during the last century, and are much smaller today than they were in 1900, a remarkable fact considering how much larger the overall population of the country is today. After fifty years of zero growth, around after 1950, true decay set in in southwest Iowa.

Meanwhile, the nation has moved on. In 1900 the population of the U.S. was roughly 76 million, today its nearly four times larger, at 305 million. Despite those sobering statistics, according to the Chamber of Commerce, Shenandoah is a wonderful place to be:

Welcome to Shenandoah, Iowa, the Garden City, a place to shop for a day, visit for a week or live the rest of your life! Shenandoah is a progressive, bustling community full of gardens, entrepreneurs, industry, opportunity, and friendly people. Its unique shops and restaurants have made it the retail hub of southwest Iowa. Shenandoah's lifestyle and appearance have sprouted from a tradition and heritage of garden industries. It's a safe place to raise a family with a top notch school system and is filled with recreation, attractions, and activities for all ages. Its low cost of living, extensive healthcare, and relaxed lifestyle also make it a great place to retire.

Written during Shenandoah’s glory days, W.L. Kershaw’s 1909 book, The History of Page County notes that, "Shenandoah was originally called Fair Oaks, though for what reason cannot be imagined, as no oak trees or any other kind were found on the site of the town" (381). On August 6, 1870 however Fair Oaks was christened Shenandoah, supposedly because of the similarities between the local scenery and the Shenandoah valley in Virginia, which makes little sense either. The town’s proximity to the Chicago, Quincy & Burlington Railroad was what turned it into a real community, drawing in residents from the rest of the county. At the time of Kershaw’s writing, the founding fathers of Shenandoah were still alive, and their accounts testify to the city’s essential birth as a railroad boomtown, not that they would have chosen to describe it in exactly that way. As one account collected by Kershaw begins, "the child is born. Its name is Shenandoah. The story of this indigenous offspring of the prairie forms an era in the future history and romance of one of the loveliest villages of the west" (383). Interestingly, Kershaw opened his history of Page County with this bombshell,

"it is conceded by historians who have given the subject deep thought and careful research that this country was inhabited by a race of beings distinct from the red man. But that is beyond the province of this work. The men and women who opened this state to civilization had only the red man to dispute their coming and obstruct their progress… (6)

Fair enough.

Around downtown Shenandoah lies the Shenandoah Fame Walk, which includes some of Shenandoah’s most famous names, including Don & Phil Everly, aka "The Everly Brothers". Despite a sometimes rocky fraternal relationship, the Everly Brothers charted over twenty six Top 40 singles during their career, including the 1960 number one hit, Cathy’s Clown. Notably, the Everlys also sang backup on Paul Simon’s Graceland album, including on the title track. The Beehive, the E.B. fanclub, is online. A letter to fans from November 2005 reveals a complicated set of disputes, boycotts and confusion.

Western Iowa: Like a window in your heart.

Shenandoah is the proud home of the Mustangs and Fillies, of Shenandoah High School. Since this is Iowa, there’s a mysterious devotion to wrestling, a nearly incomprensible sport to ninety percent of the U.S. population. One of my few good memories from my years at the UI, I believe, were the times I would ironically try to listen to wrestling on the radio (most, if not all, Hawkeye matches had radio coverage) and try to understand even one bit of what was going on. The Shenandoah H.S. webpage is no exception, providing a quite extensive account of the ’07-’08 campaign. Royals Review extends its congratulations to Wes Swygman, Caleb Owens, Cord Willers (yep) and Jake Schubert, the Wrestlers of the Week for Week #8.

So is Shenandoah a Hawkeye or Cyclone town? Well, other than their insane devotion to the Royals, which goes without saying, 960 AM (also the Royals affiliate) was listed as a Cyclone affiliate on a random 2006 webpage I discovered, which makes sense given the vague east/west divide that exists in Iowa. Currently, neither Iowa nor Iowa State has any former Mustangs on their football or basketball rosters. Heck, Iowa only has two native sons on the basketball team, and one of them is the coach’s son, who really grew up in Indiana.

Iowa Western Community College, with an enrollment of over 5,000 and branch campuses in Shenandoah and Clarinda, is the area’s primary source for higher education. At the main campus in Council Bluffs (the Iowa side of the Omaha metro) is the main campus, including the school’s athletic teams, The Reivers. What is a reiver, you ask? A reiver is a river pirate.

The IWCC Reiver Sprit Squad listens to the Royals constantly on 960 AM when near Shenandoah, which they are with great regularity.

Has Shenandoah ever produced a Major League baseball player? With towns this size, its never a sure thing, despite Iowa’s former status as a relatively populous, nearly entirely white, state during the pre-integration era of baseball. The question comes down to the contested birthplace of Max Marshall (1913-1983) an outfielder who played three seasons with the Reds during the depths of the Second World War. According to the Baseball Cube, Marshall was born in Shenandoah, while Baseball-Reference lists Marshall as being born in Randolph, a smaller town eighteen miles away. There isn’t a clear consensus here and a run through various internet sites (most of whom are getting their information from one another obviously) shows both Randolph and Shenandoah as listed birthplaces. A story in the Des Moines Register about Iowa ballplayers lists Marshall as a Shenandoah boy, and lists an actual person as the source of this information, so we’ll go with that. Marshall was a just slightly below average hitter (career OPS+ 84) who debuted for the Reds as a 28 year old in 1942. His best season was his final one, a 1944 campaign that saw him hit .245/.308/.371. For people who think baseball was always a speed game and that steroids destroyed our national innocence by killing little ball, we note that in 1943 Marshall stole eight bases, which was good for 10th best in the National League. Max Marshall played the game the right way and died in Salem, Oregon in 1983.

Interestingly while on the subject of baseball, during the boom days, Shenandoah had a few minor league teams. In 1903 Shenandoah had an affiliate in the Southwest Iowa League, a class D outfit. Shenandoah’s squad finished 22-14, middle of the pack in the six team league, but disbanded mid-season. Eight years later, a Shenandoah club spent two seasons in the so-called Mink League so named because it was based in Missouri-Nebraska-Iowa-Kansas. The Shenandoah Pin-Rollers competed in the Mink League in 1910 and 1911, finishing third and fourth, respectively, in the six-team league. Fellow future Royals Radio Affiliate Nebraska City was also a member of the league.

The Royals affiliate in Shenandoah, KMA 960 AM is one of the hoary bearded elders of the Royals Radio Network and a fixture in southwestern Iowa since 1925. The station was long linked to Earl May’s various seed ventures in the region and was mentioned in the film version of The Bridges of Madison County. On good nights, KMA can be heard from Topeka, Kansas to Sioux City, Iowa and points in between. Thanks to KMA, despite the ravages of population loss in the region, Shenandoah remains a key affiliate.

May her next hundred years be better than the last.

------

Previous Affiliate Profiles:

York, Nebraska
Conway, Arkansas
Waynesville, Missouri
Topeka, Kansas
Storm Lake, Iowa
Vinita, Oklahoma
California, Missouri
Garden City, Kansas
Belle Fourche, South Dakota
Ulysses, Kansas
Trenton, Missouri
Fairbury, Nebraska
Nebraska City, Nebraska
Winfield, Kansas
Mount Pleasant, Iowa
Butler, Missouri
Enid, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Bolivar, Missouri
Holdrege, Nebraska

What do Royals fans have to be thankful for? Quite a lot, actually. I'm not generally a voice of boosterism, but when I started thinking about it, there were a lot of positives.

Zack Greinke: We -- and I was among the most guilty of this -- should stop worrying about whether or not Greinke will ever "break out" and become an Ace, whatever that means. He's an Ace now. According to BP's handy VORP stat, Greinke was the 22nd most valuable pitcher in baseball last year, and the tenth best in the American League. Moreover, Greinke's track record and profile suggest he's not merely a one-year VORP wonder (I'm looking at you Scott Baker) either. Even before we consider the off-the-field backstory, two or three years ago we still couldn't be sure this would happen, but it did. Good things can happen to the Royals. With his stuff, Greinke's one of the funnest pitchers to watch in the game and we know that somewhere inside there's one of baseball's more unique perspectives, a breath of fresh air in a pretty boring sport, athlete-wise. I like knowing that Greinke isn't just another good ole boy from the South who knows he's a badass and has pointless facial hair and would punch a wall if he got shown up by his manager and hunts in the offseason, etc. etc. Yea, he might not be a Royal forever, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy him while he's here.

Joakim Soria: Forget the stellar numbers for a moment and just think about how you feel when he takes the ball in the ninth. Not only are you 100% sure he's going to get the save, you really expect at least one strikeout and a handful of pitches that look absolutely sick. And that guy plays for the Royals! I loved Joe Nelson, but just think how far the Royals have come. We have a guy on our team with a cool nickname who creates an electric atmosphere when he runs onto the grass. Yes, he should be starting, but having one of the best two or three short-relievers on your team doesn't suck. He's still young, and he's going to a Royal for a long time. Savor it. This isn't normal.

Gil Meche: We're two years into his infamous five year, $fifty five million dollar contract and everyone's a happy camper. After a rough start last season (an 8.00 ERA after five starts) Meche rebounded to match his 2007 levels. An increasingly affordable rotation anchor, Meche continues, along with Soria, to define everything that's gone right with the Dayton Moore regime. Meche is already the 73rd Greatest Royal of All-Time and could end his contract as one of the franchise's all-time greats. Yes, he's sometimes maddening to watch and seemingly has never had a 1-2-3 inning, but he's been reliable and one of the most effective starters in the AL for two seasons (14th in the AL in VORP in '07, 15th in '08). And can you imagine if it had gone badly like most of us thought it would? Unspeakable annoyance and horribleness. But we've avoided that. Now about that Jose Guillen...

Mike Aviles in 2008 Happened: The Royals kept playing Tony Pena Jr, who kept not hitting. Like, not hitting at an historical level. Nevertheless, the Hillman/Moore regime seemed donkey stubborn about ex-Brave TPJ, as did a few notable members of the local media. We bitched, we moaned and eventually, in a completely sane, utterly necessary move, dude actually lost playing time. It was like the world actually made sense. Not only that, but his replacement, Mike Aviles, the quintessential sabermetric hero with no scouting love, showed up and had the week of his life to begin his career. Then it was the month of his life. Then it was the two months of his life. Then it was the three months of his life. Really against their will, the Royals replaced the worst player on the roster with a guy who probably should have won the Rookie of the Year. Again, this really happened and it happened to our team. Cool.

Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon: The odds are that two of these guys will reach an All-Star level, perhaps higher, before its all said and done. It hasn't happened yet, but at least its possible. Again, it wasn't always like this.

The Uniform: From pants to cap, the Royals have one of the simplest yet most appealing uniforms in the game. There's a word for that combination: elegance. Blue and white, with maybe a touch of gold. Simple. Pretty. I'm even willing to look past the obvious Dodgers-ripoff in the design, given that the franchise has remained loyal to it through all these years, save a few utterly unavoidable dalliances with black as a third color and the sleeveless look (which I actually loved with blue sleeves underneath). Better still, the team finally brought back the powder blues in 2008, which look fantastic. I swear have the teams in the game are playing in absolutely hideous uniforms at any given moment and you can never put the Royals in that category.

What a great uniform.

The K: The K should really almost be in the same paragraph as the uniforms. The K manages to look modern and timeless at the same time, and should be even better this season with the renovations done. I love that the K isn't a mallpark (knock on wood with renovations coming) and I love that it isn't supposed to look like the Baker Bowl. The retro-look is as nineties as teal pinstripes. As long as the fountains and some amout of green space remain in the outfield seats remain, I'm happy. And wonderfully, the big honking scoreboard actually accentuates the stadium's unique outfield and draws attention to it. Better still (knock on wood) the K is still simply "The K" and not "Qwest Ballpark" or "Circuit City Field". I can't explain how wonderful this is, and how much it sounds better and better with each passing year. On top of that, there are a higher percentage of good seats at the K than almost anywhere else in the game, thanks to the design of the seating bowl and the lack of a bazillion luxury suites. Good, affordable prices, too.

The AL Central: It doesn't get talked about much, but despite Selig's incessant preening about how revenue sharing and the luxury tax has "worked", perhaps the biggest thing baseball did to level the playing field was simply adding two Central divisions. In effect, most of the American League's smallest markets now have their own little competition going, with the winner getting to face the behemoths from the East Coast Megalopolis and Greater L.A. in an essentially random showdown. Last year, when us Royals fans were bragging about how we'd do in the National League, we should have also been thankful we weren't still in the old AL West or, God forbid, the AL East. The aging Tigers and White Sox won't be contending in two years, maybe sooner, which means Dayton Moore only needs to build a better team than the Twins and Indians, who are just as limited financially as he is.

Progress: Finally, we're makin' progress. Here are the win totals during the Royals Review Era (since 2005): 56, 62, 69, 75. The Royals don't even have a top ten draft pick next year! (Which is actually kinda bad, I suppose.) Not only is the big league team getting better, everyone agrees the farm system is getting better as well. Is anything assured? No. We don't know where this will end, whether its a World Series Championship or just a team that doesn't suck for a few seasons. The point is, for the first time since the late 90s (and then only briefly), it really looks like the team is on the rise. We don't know where the Royals are going to end up, but their progress is going to be fun to watch.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm off to the in-law's house in Ohio tomorrow morning and won't be too internet-involved. Expect more free Royals content after the weekend, including a new radio affiliate profile.

Its time for another installment of that crass pleasure, the Who Has Made More Money Game!

So, try not to be too heady with this, just think of the two players quickly and give me your five seconds later answer:

Who has made more money playing baseball, Esteban German or Robinson Tejeda?

Remember, signing bonuses count.

I'll post the answer later, there are no winners and no prizes.

Good stuff from Baseball America this morning:

Like the Athletics before them, the Rays have become the hope for the hopeless. While the disparities between large- and small-revenue clubs stacks the deck in favor of the Yankees, Red Sox and others, Tampa Bay proved again in 2008 that a less-advantaged club can succeed if it drafts well, develops its own players and makes wise trades.

That's good news for the Royals. But it also leads to the question: If the Rays can do it, why hasn't Kansas City been able to break through?

Here are your top ten Royals prospects according to the venerable BA:

1. Mike Moustakas
2. Eric Hosmer
3. Daniel Cortes
4. Mike Montgomery
5. Tim Melville
6. Danny Duffy
7. Danny Gutierrez
8. Carlos Rosa
9. Kila Ka'aihue
10. Blake Wood

In conclusion:

They [Montgomery, Moustakas, Hosmer] will be counted on to lead the next Royals' resurgence, but it will likely require more patience. Most of the Royals' best young players already have reached the majors, though they have accumulated a number of strong arms and athletic center fielders in their system. They have few hitting prospects at the upper levels, however, and few high-ceiling bats besides third baseman Mike Moustakas and Hosmer.

At 2:30 EST J.J. Cooper will be hosting a Royals chat at BA. I'll also be posting a brief Q&A with him a bit later, so if you have a good question, share it ASAP in the comments.

On May 9, 2005, the Royals invaded Canada to take on the Blue Jays. At 8-23, the Royals were already fifteen games back in the AL Central, but you couldn't tell that to the 13,000 rabid Jays fans who watched a brilliant baseball spectacle that Monday night in the Skydome.

With the Blue Jays leading 6-1, illustrious Royals manager Tony Pena -- who would be fired later that week -- sent a young Leo Nunez out in the bottom of the 8th. Prior to that season, Nunez had never pitched above A-ball, and like fellow Royals rookie Ambiorix Burgos, Nunie was a mere twenty one years young. Despite his inexperience, Nunez was unfazed, striking out Ken Huckaby swinging to begin his career. He followed that K with another, this time getting Orlando Hudson looking. With two outs and no one on, he induced a pop-up foul from Reed Johnson, and walked back to the dugout with a perfect lifetime ERA. The Allard Baird development machine had just churned out another great young reliever...

At the time, nobody really had any idea why the Royals had rushed Nunez and Burgos (who had been called up on April 23) to the Majors so soon, and nobody ever found a better answer than "well, all the other guys are terrible". (I've long held that there's sorta a reverse racism  in baseball regarding Dominican pitchers, as both Nunez and Burgos were, a kind of romantic mystique that imagines that they're all so talented that they can handle anything, while also so alien that they aren't really nervous or distracted because they probably don't know whats going on or who anybody is, while Bubba Kyle McTevins is gonna be overwhlemed because he's dealing with information overload and is still geeked up because he's sitting next to Mark Grudzielanek in the dugout. Just a theory, love to see what you think.) Burgos, it was thought, was more talented, but Nunez might also be a starter. Again, why he needed to jump from A-ball to the American League for a 8-24 team rather than working on his repertoire in the minors was never really explained. I suppose the Royals just thought that other teams had young pitchers show up out of nowhere, so that that might also happen with Burgos and Nunez, despite the fact that combined they were 42 years old and weighed 200 pounds.

The faces of Nunez.

Nunez started well, allowing just one earned run in his first five games. However, he then turned in two bad outings in relative proximity, being left on the mound to allow five and six runs respectively. After eleven appearances his ERA was over 8.00. Still, the reputation of the team's coaching staff speaks for itself, and we really cannot over-state the instruction he was recieving. Nunez was never wholly effective for any long stretches as a rookie, and ended the season with an ERA of 7.55 (although this was the wretched STEROID ERA, so that was actually a league average ERA, sincerely, the uninformed radio talk-show guys of America). Weirdly, his 53.7 IP for the '05 Royals remains his career high, despite the fact that a) he was ineffective and b) there was absolutely no point to him being out there.

Nunie's (I can't remember if we called him "nunie"/"noonie" or not) next two seasons were something of a holding pattern. In '06 he actually spent a good portion of the season in the minors and appeared in only seven games with the Royals. While Nunez had seen action as a starter earlier in his minor league career, in '05 and '06 the Royals used him exclusively as a reliever for two years. After another wave of injuries and time in the minors, Nuez reappareaed in '07. In '07, naturally, it was time to let him start again. Why? No reason really, but it wasn't like the new regime had anything to lose.

Nunez took one for the team in Spring Training, 2007.

From late July through August of '07 Nunez made six starts and randomly appeared as a reliever once. In those seven games he wasn't bad, posting a 4.05 ERA in 33.1 IP. Considering he also allowed seven home runs over that stretch, he was either lucky to only have a 4.05 ERA or actually a much more effective pitcher who'd had some bad homer luck. Nunez managed twenty five strikeouts against just ten walks as well. Considering he was still just 23 years old, was coming off some minor injuries in '06 and had never really been consistently used, it wasn't a bad beginning. Nevertheless, the six runs he'd allowed in his sixth start, against Detroit, seemed to discourage the braintrust, and Nunez would never start for the Royals again. Instead, Leo made six relief appearances in September, running off a 3.48 ERA stretch, and finished '07 with a 3.92 ERA.

Nunez made the Opening Day roster out of Spring Training in '08 and appeared in the Royals first two games, both victories. Through May 27th, Nunez was a regular member of the Hispanic Panic bullpen and one of its, well, I guess we should be horrible shouldn't we... one of the real key compadres. After twenty one appearances in 2008 Nunez was the owner of a 1.71 ERA and owned a clean slate homer-wise. Unfortunately, he hit the DL with a sore muscle in his right side. Nunez would return in late July, and while he was adequate in his last twenty four games pitched, he wasn't as awesome as he had been, posting a 3.95 ERA in 27.1 IP.

As it would turn out, Nunez would make his final appearance as a Royal during the season finale, appearing in the bottom of the 7th with the bases loaded and the Twins leading 2-0. Nunez allowed a two-run single to Delmon Young, but ended the rally with a "double-play" fly ball from Brendan Harris and a putout at home. The Royals would lose the game and Nunez would ever appear in a Royals uniform again.

So was Nunez improving? Was he poised for a breakout, or at least sustained success? Here's a big table of numbers, including the somewhat pointless '06 numbers:

If anyone wants to calculate his career FIP, you're welcome to it. It's possible that we've already seen whatever Leo's breakout looks like, the stretch from '07 through late May of '08 when he upped his strikeout rate, while keeping the walks under control. Nunez was much more effective against righties than lefties (who always slugged well against him) over his Royal career, a largely irrelevant fact considering he was managed mostly by Buddy Bell and Trey Hillman. Still, a great many of these numbers immistakably trend positive, which can't be said for the man he was traded for, our beloved Mike Jacobs. Its possible that, on the day he was traded, Nunez was the best pitcher that Moore had dealt from the team, and even so, you could debate overall the merits of Nunez versus Ramirez.

For such a young guy, Nunez made his way into a great number of Royals games and discussions in the latter half of this anxious decade, and will not leave a small entry in the eternal Royals encyclopedia. Leo appeared in 106 games as a Royal, good for 49th in team history, between Dan Reichert and Jerry Don Gleaton. His 159 career innings pitched is good for 87th in team history, just trailing current former Brave Kyle Davies. Finally, Nunez struck out 102 batters as a Royal and is tied, perhaps forever, with well-remembered 2003 hero Brian Anderson at 86th on the all-time list.

According to WPA, two appearances by Nunez stand out as his most glorious. The first came way back in 2005, in his fourth career game. With the Royals leading Baltimore 6-4 (it had been 6-0) Nunez relived Runelyvs Hernandez with two men on and one out in the fourth. Nunez ended the rally, striking out Melvin Mora and retiring Miggie Tejada to end the inning. He followed that up with a four-batter scoreless fifth and a 1-2-3 sixth, giving way to Jamie Cerda. Thanks to Nunez's scoreless 2.2 IP, he earned a 29% WPA, which he would never match in his career. He came close however, three seasons later, on Opening Day 2008 against the vaunted Tigers. (AKA the Brett Tomko Game.) With the scored tied at four, Nunez pitched a scoreless four-batter ninth (walk) as well as a perfect tenth, holding down the fort for two innings before the Royals took the lead in the eleventh, and good for a WPA of 28%.

A Marlin now, Nunez must endure the bitter knowledge that he must endure as a professional athlete in Miami.

Nunez, let me take a long last look, before we say goodbye.

*Leonel miscellania: Weirdly, Nunez leaves the Royals with a bizarre dominance over Mark Teixeira. In nine career Nunie-Tex battles, Teixeira is .000/.000/.000 with a strikeout. Completely meaningless, but the kind of thing that will get mentioned on televsion and, sadly, will probably dictate a situational usage of Nunez at some point. Leo's most common strikeout victim? Scrap-yard hero Brandon Innnnnnnge, who has four strikeouts against LN in ten plate appearances. Ever the gentle soul, there is no player who Nunez has pegged twice, only a bunch of solos.

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