12
Thursday, May 1, 1980
University Daily Kansan
Top Cat uses his role as top dog to lead KC fans
By MATT SEELEY
Sports Writer
Spurring the crowd on, Top Cat gives the Royals' batter the home run signal from his home in right field.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—San Diego has his chicken. In Baltimore it big wild Will Bail Hagley. And, of course, there are the Bleacher Burns of Chicago.
Who else? The Top Cat, of course.
But who in Kansas City is responsible forunting the crowd when a rally is needed?Need to know if there is a dimension on the ball field? Who is the 10thman who brings the spectators to their feet
"Dumon. I guess nobody wants to dance with the Cat tonight." he replies.
"Who ya gonna dance with tonight?" an elderly man bellows to a sleek black man a dozen rows down the right field stands.
with the Cat cuttent, *neeps.*
FINALLY, with a little nudging from her friends, a starry-eyed teenager is shamed and the waisting gramps of the Cat Cut.
Born in Chicago, now living in Kansas City by day and prowling Royal Stadium at night, the Cat Tan is as unique as a no-hitter.
The two twist, twirl and tango into the Missouri twilight while a chorus of spectators say unharmoniously the words "Take me out to the ball game."
In the four years he has been cheerleading for the Royals, Top Cat has missed only five games.
Going to Chicago was a trip home for Top Knot, whose name is Leruel Ray Groaves. It was in Chicago where the Cat began his cheerleading charades.
"INCAPACTATED. I had a back injury that had我 me up for a couple of weeks," Top Cat buil ted. "But I made up for them by come to Chicago to see them nay."
We rode with em and wilmed with 'em in Chicago. "Cat says, 'I was always with my uncle and weld always sit in right field, but we were Wrigley Field or Cosmany park."
"But I wasn't privileged enough in Chicago. I'd always have to get a little gentleman, so I couldn't do what I'm doing now."
THE CAT'S JOB now is to force the fans in right field into a game where the main action is 350 feet away. But, if the Cat had his way, he'd be out there playing with the
"Personally, I envy them," the cat says, trying to be the one to take him to them. I love the game that was hoped to be a major league player, but I was a rink滑手. I weighed nothing with it.
In the four years Top Cat has played cheerleader for the Royals, he has had plenty to scream, holler and dance about. Three American League Western Division titles and a second place finish last year have made his cause that much more enlightened.
THE CAT, who started the new fami-
*A.A.O. A.O.*; cheer, as well as "M attack"
& "White sall right" calls, says he wishes
only the best for players.
"We don't ride nobody out here. We want everybody to do good," he says. "We don't antagonize the right-fielder or anything like that."
There have been, however, some instances where the right fielder hasn't found Top Cat and his followers insist so enovable.
"There have been some that give us the finger or say, 'Go tell my names!'..." he said. "We try to psych them out personally. We try to psych them out and they try to psych us out of their minds." It is
DURING LAST year's off-season, the Royals revamped their roster, dealing some key players to other ball clubs. Top Cat, who was disowned with the rupees
One trade sent popular right-fielder Al Cewns to the California Angels for first baseman Willie Mays Aikens
"We can't make a trade like that. We need pitching real bad," he says, "Yea, I was favorable toward Cowens because he's'd
respond to us. I was sorry and disappointed he was traded. With him we had three of the best outfielders in the leagues."
The trade gave Clint Hurtle, a brash third-year player, a chance to take over for the departed Cowes. However, Hurtle, who was known for his outstanding potential, has failed to live up to his advance billing. In turn, the crowd has expressed disappointment over his perseverance.
"I think the Royals are trying to push Hurdle and make him something that he's not. Hey, you're either a janitor or an engineer. It's as smoke as that."
"THEER A ARE A couple of jerks that get on his case real bad," Top Cat says. "But Hurdle has bloomed out of perspective."
Top Cat, though, hopes Hurdle comes through.
"I dig him. he heats hee out Williams and Musial," he says. "Then he'd make some of these jerks swallow their tongue and zip their lip."
The right-field seats also make for excellent viewing of the Royals bullpen. But the relationship between the Royals relief
pitches and the right-field fans is a strained one.
"WE'RE LIKE NEXT door neighbors, Top Cat says. "But they yell at us and we yell at them. There is no love lost between us."
One of the game's most notorious relief aces spent a pair of seasons in the Royals' balpen before declaring an agent status. The N.L. beat the Rangers, Al Harboksy, whose psych out antics on the mound overshadow Top Cat's performance in right, was one reliever who took it from the bench.
"He is a variant. He psyched himself out of perspective and out of baseball," Top Cat says.
"After a while he acts great tired and stale so they had to unload him. Look, if I want to see a show, I'll go to the Barmum and Bailey and get them out here if it here anyway and wanted to eat out."
LIKE HE IS with all players, Top Cat wishes Hrabosky nothing but the best.
"I'm not critical of him," he says. "I hope he wins 25 games."
The Top Cat dances the night away during the seventh inning stretch in Royals Stadium.
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That desire for all competitors to do their best, is evident in Top Cat's favorite all-time player.
"Not being prejudiced, it's Jackie Robinson. I like anybody that's a first," he said. "He proved to blacks and to me that he was real, He was a real man, the tops in my book."
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"Sometimes, I think I come to these games just to watch him," an elderly Independence. Mo., woman said. "He makes this the best entertainment value in town."
"Right field is where Top Cat belongs," a barly man with a glass of beer in hand said. "This guy has done so much for this
organization you wouldn't believe. He gets me going."
"I optimistic about it," he said. "They are coming back to school, spring training, but they didn't. What they should do is be goosed into doors, no媒业, no public, no nothing. Just sit down with them."
WHAT'S TO STOP Top Cat? Possibly a baseball strike this month.
"This is America's No. 1 entertainment and to strike is like putting Christ on the cross again. It's sinful."
Whether the Top Cat is silenced by a strike remains to be seen. However, as they say in show business, the show must go on.
And as the Royals No. 1 fan said, "I don't come to see the show, I bring it with me."
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