One of the most appealing things about John Kruk as a broadcaster is his willingness to make fun of himself and to tell self-deprecating stories on the air that nicely fill the gaps between action during a ballgame.
The analyst provided a funny example of that on the Sunday Night Baseball telecast between the Angels and Royals. During the bottom of the fourth inning, play-by-play man Dan Shulman led Kruk to talk about a guy he’d been texting with over the past two years about hooking him (and presumably, the ESPN Sunday night crew) with some ribs, surely one of the best perks of broadcasting a game from Kansas City.
As it turns out, the “George” with whom Kruk was corresponding wasn’t only the man to supply him with some quality K.C. barbecue. Shulman thought it was worthy to tell on the air and Kruk seemed hesitant to confess his ignorance, so you knew this had to be pretty good stuff.
So here are John Kruk’s TV booth confessions, in a three-part series:
That’s right, folks: “George” was Royals legend George Brett. Not only is he Kansas City’s all-time leader in career hits, home runs and RBI, but Brett is apparently the guy to talk to for getting ribs delivered to the ballpark from Mitch and the team at Char Bar.
It feels like we need more to this story, though. Maybe Kruk can provide an update if Sunday Night Baseball returns to Kansas City this season. Like, did he confess to not realizing “George” was George Brett?
Actually, we also need Brett’s side of the story on this, so maybe he can stop by the booth. Did Brett have any inkling that Kruk didn’t know who he was talking to? Were there any conversations about baseball when Kruk was talking about hitting to “George” and taking an authoritative point of view, making Brett wonder “Why is he talking to me like I didn’t know that about hitting?”
What would be even better is if Brett knew that Kruk was clueless and maintained the mystery. Maybe he was seeing how long this deception could be carried on. Could Brett have even been building toward retelling the infamous story in which he crapped his pants?
And if so, had Kruk heard it before? I mean, he had to, right? We all have. But what if that had been when it finally dawned on Kruk, rather than hearing about Brett having to present a Royals Hall of Fame jersey to Mike Sweeney? Hey, that story sounds familiar… Wait a minute! George Brett?
Maybe this whole text message/rib hook-up saga is even better. Dig a little further, Dan Shulman. Inquiring ESPN Sunday Night Baseball viewers (especially those who write about such things) want to know.