The Kansas City Royals were starting to earn my fan base. In 2014 the Royals won the American League and were one run away from tying and potentially winning the World Series. They had fun on the field, and you could see it in their celebrations and smiles and laughs. They won and had fun. I even wrote about what the Rookie could learn from the 2014 Kansas City Royals during their amazing play-off run.

13 wins, multiple ejections, and countless fights into the 2015 season my mind has changed on the Kansas City Royals.

You can call it moxy, heart, playing with a chip on your shoulder, I don’t care what you call it, this isn’t the type of baseball that I want the Rookie to grow up with. Some say that the league isn’t taking well to the antics that the Royals do on the field with hand gestures and celebrating wins on the other team’s field which is contributing to the Royals getting hit by pitches more often, or so some say.

But the 2015 Kansas City Royals are teaching my son that it is OK to retaliate. The Royals are teaching my son that if someone gets in your face, it is OK to shove back and not be the bigger man. That isn’t what I want my son growing up to think is OK. Whoever retaliates will end up on the worse end, we have seen it time and time again.

The incidents that are causing the fights for the Royals more than likely spurred by one person who cannot keep his cool. I shouldn’t lump and entire team into one man’s actions. But there is no “I” in team and the Royals are a team, or a family depending on who you talk to.  A family that stands up for each other, but fighting is no way to stand up for your family. I could teach the Rookie that when the going gets tough bear down and do what you can to win the game. There is no need to cause a ruckus on the field because soon he will be on the playing field.

This will be the first year the Rookie will be playing t-ball and I will be his coach. As a coach, what I am fearful of is that the littlest of Royals fan will grow up seeing that fighting is acceptable in the game. I do not want to teach one of my players that if he doesn’t get his way or we are losing (even though the runs don’t count) it is reason enough to start a fight with other team. It is up to coaches like me to reverse what the Kansas City Royals are teaching the up-and-coming baseball players.

The season is young, we are just 16 games into it. Sure there will be fines and suspensions from what happened on the field in Chicago Thursday night and hopefully things will return to normal and the Kansas City Royals will start to win with class at some point during this season. That is what I want the Rookie to learn, to win with class and that is what I hope eventually the 2015 Kansas City Royals will teach him also.