New Royals owner John Sherman pledges goal is a championship, sustained success
Despite the team’s name, there wasn’t a coronation, a throne or even a passing of a crown. But the Kansas City Royals officially introduced the organization’s new monarch Tuesday.
John Sherman took over as the chairman and CEO and addressed local reporters for the first time during a news conference inside the Royals Hall of Fame at Kauffman Stadium.
Sherman sat at a table flanked by new manager Mike Matheny, senior vice president of baseball operations/general manager Dayton Moore and senior vice president of business operations Kevin Uhlich. All four men wore dark suits with white dress shirts and blue neckties, forming the new collective braintrust of the organization.
“It is a proud and storied franchise,” Sherman said. “Our objective is to compete for a championship on behalf of our fans. I’ve heard Mike say it, and I’ve heard Dayton say it, that we’re going to try to do it on a sustainable basis and have sustained success.”
Former owner David Glass reached out to Sherman during spring training last year to let him know he and his family were going to sell the team. News of the sale agreement to Sherman broke in August, and MLB’s owners put their stamp of approval on it last week in Arlington, Texas.
The purchase of the team went through on Monday and made the group of investors led by Sherman the new stewards of the franchise. The ownership group includes 22 other individuals and/or companies all with roots in or ties to the Kansas City area.
While Sherman didn’t confirm the sale price of $1 billion, he said it was “amazing” how close the reports were about a private business deal.
“I think this group that coalesced around this, the commissioner and the commissioner’s office felt like this could be a new model, kind of a best practice for local ownership in a small market,” Sherman said, “because these properties are obviously becoming more valuable, big numbers, and in a small market.”
Sherman, 64, was born in Japan, his father in the Air Force. He moved around as a youth, but he settled in Kansas City, where his wife, Marny, is from, and where he got his first job out of college. They raised four children, and Sherman has considered the area home for more than 40 years.
“The opportunity to do this in your hometown in very, very special,” Sherman said.
Uhlich presented Sherman with a framed jersey with his last name over the No. 1. Hall of Famer George Brett sat in the front row alongside philanthropist and civic leaders Julia Irene Kauffman and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick.
Sherman, who’d been a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians, came off as a passionate baseball and Royals fan — he even relayed how he left a family trip in Europe in 2014 to come back to Kansas City for Games 6 and 7 of the World Series. He recounted memorable moments from the 2015 World Series, such as Alex Gordon’s game-tying home run in Game 1, describing it as “magic.”
“As a group, as a leadership team, we were really thrilled that Mr. Glass sought out Mr. Sherman,” Moore said. “We certainly knew him and his reputation in this community, and what’s he done to help this community thrive and unite. The fact he’d been a part of Cleveland, an organization we have respect for, an organization that does it very well, and we felt like change in ownership was coming at a perfect time for all of us as we’re looking to move forward in a very productive and positive way.”
Sherman expressed confidence in Moore and the baseball operations staff, though he refuted reports that Moore had been given a contract extension by the new ownership group.
Sherman was sure to add, “That’s not a lack of confidence in anybody, I think that’s just we’re coming into the business and we’ve got to see what we have and press forward.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 4:18 PM with the headline "New Royals owner John Sherman pledges goal is a championship, sustained success."
