In return to Wichita, former Royals star Alex Gordon reflects on Wranglers career
In the grand scheme of his decorated career, the one year Alex Gordon spent in Wichita nearly two decades ago was just a tiny blip.
But when Gordon recently returned to the city that launched his professional baseball career to be inducted into the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame, memories from the 2006 season playing for the Wichita Wranglers began to flood back.
For starters, Gordon, 41, who has been retired since 2020, was stunned driving down Kellogg and seeing Equity Bank Park, a brand-new, top-of-the-line ballpark, stand in the place of his former home, Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, which was nearing the end of its life during Gordon’s time.
“I don’t think I’ve been back since, so when I drove by I was so blown away by how much it’s changed,” Gordon told The Eagle. “It’s a beautiful park. They’ve really done a great job with it.”
Before becoming a three-time All-Star, eight-time Gold Glove winner and World Series champion during a distinguished 14-year career with the Kansas City Royals, Gordon was a 22-year-old rookie in Wichita looking to live up to the hype after the organization had drafted him No. 2 overall.
It was realized during the time that the 2006 Wranglers were a special minor-league team. Gordon was joined by fellow blue-chip prospects like Billy Butler and Luke Hochevar, among five other first-round draft picks, including future Cy Young winner Zack Greinke. Not to mention the team was coached by Royals legend Frank White.
“It was such a fun team because we were all about the same age, a bunch of kids fresh out of college and we all stayed put for pretty much the whole season,” Gordon said. “A lot of the girlfriends and wives and fiances all got along too, so it was just a good group. Honestly, it was one of my favorite seasons in professional baseball. (The Royals) actually tried to call Zack back up, but he wanted to stay with us because of how much fun we were having.”
Later in his career, Greinke became known for being a likable oddball. In Wichita, however, the 22-year-old Greinke fit right in with the other blue-chip prospects on the rise.
There was one story that Gordon recalled, while laughing, that hinted at Greinke’s peculiar style before it fully flourished.
“You know how pitchers are crazy when it comes to their day to pitch and they warm up like an hour before the game and do all of this stuff,” Gordon said. “Well, one day we were in Springfield and it’s like five minutes before the game and Zack’s just sitting with his legs crossed out in the outfield. I don’t even think he warmed up. He was just in a zone. We were all thinking, ‘What the heck, Zack.’ And then he went out there and struck out (12) guys and threw (a one-run complete game). That was typical Greinke stuff there.”
Gordon, who had played at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium years earlier for the Beatrice Bruins in the NBC World Series, excelled in his lone season with the Wranglers. He finished with a .325 batting average, 39 doubles, 29 home runs, 101 RBIs and 22 stolen bases, which earned him Texas League Player of the Year and Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year honors.
But ask him about his memories in Wichita and the first thing that comes to mind were the hot summer days manning third base for the Wranglers on the turf field at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
“They had this thermometer out in the outfield where you could see the temperature and it got up to like 120 degrees on the turf,” Gordon said. “I remember one game being in the dugout just exhausted, sweating bullets and I had this white towel full of ice and water and I put it on my head and put the glasses over my face. It was kind of a funny look and someone took a picture and it ended up on the front page of USA Today. That was pretty funny.”
The Wranglers finished with a 77-62 record that season and won the Texas League East Division, reaching the Texas League Championship Series in the postseason before falling to the Corpus Christi Hooks in four games.
It was an experience that Gordon credited for propelling him to the big leagues the following season. Wichita is where prospects like Gordon, Butler and Hochevar all learned how to win, which helped them for back-to-back World Series appearances that culminated with a world championship in 2015. Gordon hit a key home run in the ninth inning of Game 1 against the New York Mets to force extra innings, where the Royals eventually won en route to the title.
“When we were down in Wichita, everybody knew what the team was doing in the big leagues,” Gordon said. “They were losing 100 games every year. So we all had that motivation of wanting to be the ones to help change that. We wanted to win (in Wichita) and then carry it all the way up to the big leagues and we did that.”
After the prospect-loaded team graduated up the ranks, the Wranglers struggled mightily in the 2007 season and the Double-A franchise left Wichita. The city went more than a decade without affiliated baseball until the new stadium was built, which attracted the Wichita Wind Surge, the Double-A affiliate for the Minnesota Twins, to begin playing in 2021.
While Gordon was technically in town for his NBC World Series accomplishments, coming back to Wichita filled the Lincoln, Nebraska, native with gratitude for returning to where his professional baseball career first began.
“I really enjoyed being coached by Frank because he just had so much knowledge of the game,” Gordon said. “I don’t think I was that good of an infielder, but I had a good year that year because he worked with me so much over there at third base. I just tried to soak it all up and I think that’s what helped me get to the big leagues the next year. Usually you progress to Triple-A before they call you up, but I went straight to the big leagues and I think it’s because of everything we were able to do in Wichita and how much I grew from that year.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 6:02 AM.
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