“We play it straight down the middle, but we don’t preclude our players from voicing their opinion on political matters or campaigns,” Kansas City Royals spokesman Toby Cook told Josh Helmuth of KSHB.
Cook noted that the Royals devote an entire day of Spring Training to advising players on how to handle themselves in public, and that includes social media. As to political endorsements, the Royals, said Cook, “don’t tell the players that they can’t do it.”
Although the national media, including the sports media, are inclined to laud those who slight President Trump in particular, the Royals and Chiefs have to be aware that they play in a different environment than do, say, the Golden State Warriors or the New England Patriots.
In that their fan base skews white and male in a region that gave Trump nearly 60 percent of the vote, it is likely that two-thirds or more of their fans voted for Trump. Players, Royals brass understand, would win neither hearts or minds by insulting them.