Royals’ Eric Hosmer on Partying Like a Champ, Pouring Beers on Paul Rudd
Eric Hosmer was a highly touted prospect from the moment he picked up a bat, and when the Kansas City Royals drafted him straight out of high school in 2008, expectations were off the charts.
In short, he was part of a core group of young talent that was tasked with resurrecting a franchise that had fallen on hard times (to put it mildly): The Royals hadn’t made the MLB postseason since winning the World Series in 1985 and had managed just one winning season in the decade before he was drafted. By 2011, much of that core had made their way to the majors, including Hosmer, who batted .293 and hit 19 home runs in his debut season – good enough for a third-place finish in A.L. Rookie of the Year voting. It seemed those expectations were well-founded. But the Royals, flush with fresh-faced players, still finished 20 games under .500, then followed that up with a 72-90 record in 2012.
Still, something was stirring in Kansas City. In 2013, the Royals won 86 games (their most since 1989), then broke out big time in 2014, embarking on an improbable run that brought them all the way back to the World Series, where they lost in excruciating fashion – in Game 7, with the tying run standing on third base – to the San Francisco Giants. Baseball doesn’t often afford teams second chances, but Hosmer and the Royals were ready to buck the trend, determined to not only make it back to the Fall Classic, but bring Kansas City its first World Championship in 30 years.
By now, you’re probably aware that they pulled it off – taking control of the A.L. Central in early June and never relinquishing the lead, mounting a furious comeback against the Houston Astros in the Division Series, taming the Toronto Blue Jays’ high-powered offense in the Championship Series and then willing their way past the New York Mets to win the World Series in five games.
For Hosmer, the championship was more than just the culmination of a seven-year trip to the top of the baseball world – it was validation of a team-wide belief that these Royals were building something special, and confirmation that the critics had it wrong all along. Don’t believe us? Just ask him:
It’s almost been two weeks since the Royals won the World Series. Has any of it sunk in yet?
It’s all still surreal; we’d watch Kimmel and see [Mike] Moustakas and all those guys on there. We got flown up to New York on a private jet that Jimmy Fallon sent – they were saying it was the first time he’d ever sent it for an athlete. It’s crazy, because you win, you see your family on the field, you’re doing all these interviews with these people you’ve grown up watching on TV, you see the trophy and before you know it, you’re looking at Jimmy Fallon, having a conversation with him. It’s unbelievable. And then actors like Paul Rudd and Rob Riggle, those were guys who would make it out once a summer for the big charity event, and now we’re texting and sending Twitter messages back and forth. It’s crazy, because it’s all happened so fast.
It was pretty cool to see Paul Rudd celebrating with you guys in the clubhouse.
Yeah. I mean, if you see Paul Rudd out somewhere, you’re not going to take four beers and pour them over his head. I definitely felt comfortable enough to do that; we’ve reached that level of friendship [laughs]. It was such a fun time, and the fact that he’s been so nice to us, and so cool to us, it felt like he belonged there. That’s the funny thing; we do a team celebration at the end of every game, and Riggle and Eric Stonestreet have each snuck into the clubhouse to be a part of it.
We had all the lights off, had the strobe light and smoke machine going and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” blasting. It’s the same celebration all year – we all clap at the same time, then one of the vets on the team, Jeremy Guthrie, would announce all the different players who had a big impact on the game, and when he’d finally announce the player of the game, he’d always go, ‘”Listen up, I got something to say…” But this time, it was like, “Listen up, Paul Rudd’s got something to say…” and Rudd would pop out, or Rob Riggle. It was awesome.