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Very few players in Major League Baseball appear to be having more fun on a daily basis than Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez.
That ebullience has made Perez a huge fan favorite in Kansas City – the only city he has played for in his illustrious 13 year MLB career.
On Thursday, a day the Royals had off, Salvador Perez cemented his status as the King of KC as he was driving through one of the town’s neighborhoods.
As Rustin Dodd of The Athletic explains it, a group of young boys were playing wiffle ball in the backyard of one of the kids’ homes when a man wearing “white sneakers, a brown long-sleeve shirt and a familiar smile on his face” pulled up and got out of his car.
The home belonged to the family of 9-year-old Cameron Lard, who was at first a little confused. Until he realized who it was.
“Hey guys, can I play?” the Kansas City Star reports Salvador Perez asked the kids.
“Guys, that’s Salvy!” Cameron shouted when the realization set in of who was asking to play with them – a nine-time All Star and World Series MVP.
Cameron then ran into his house shouting to anyone who would listen, “Salvy freaking Perez is in the backyard!”
“It’s just unbelievable,” Cameron’s mother Lesley told the Kansas City Star. “We actually have a Kansas City Monarchs player that lives with a host family in our neighborhood as well. And he came and played with the boys a few weeks ago, and we all couldn’t believe that. Thought it was the coolest thing. And then this happens, and it’s just like, I don’t know, Salvy is just like, another level, you know?
“I mean, people outside of Kansas City know Salvy. I was trying to tell people that aren’t Royals fans, he’s the Patrick Mahomes of the Royals. Like, he is the Royals. So I still don’t really believe it. If we didn’t get a picture, then I probably wouldn’t believe that.”
Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article291347300.html#storylink=cpy
She even captured some video of him playing wiffle ball with the kids.
Amazing experience at our house today; Salvy joined in the neighborhood wiffle ball game! My son and I are the biggest Royals fans, this was truly unbelievable! #ForeverRoyal pic.twitter.com/HwlxCgjE8m
— Lesley Lard (@LibrarianLesL) August 23, 2024
“@BlitzballGuy we’ve gone through probably 50 Blitzalls this summer!!!,” Lesley wrote in the comments of the video. “We’re definitely keeping the game ball from yesterday!!”