Kevin Seitzer Autographs Baseball for Fan 33 Years After Historic Day

The date was Aug. 2, 1987, and Kansas City Royals rookie was in the final two months of an incredible rookie season. Seitzer, a third baseman for the Royals, was playing the Boston Red Sox in Kansas City and had the game of his life. He went 6-for-6 with two home runs and seven RBIs. He also hit two foul balls, one which was caught by Jim Chambers. Chambers has always wanted to get that ball signed by Seitzer. Thirty-three years after Seitzer's big day, it happened.

Kevin Seitzer's MLB career

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Kevin Seitzer came into Major League Baseball as a hyped-up rookie prospect and he certainly didn't disappoint. After a cup of coffee with the Kansas City Royals in 1986, Seitzer played a full rookie season with the Royals in 1987 and wound up finishing second to Oakland Athletics first baseman Mark McGwire for Rookie of the Year.

Seitzer had a monster season in his first full year with the Royals. He led the league in his with 207 and finished the season with a .323 batting average. He also smacked 15 home runs and knocked in 83 runs. Seitzer also finished with 105 runs scored. He was named as an MLB All-Star.

Although he never had another season like that, he was very steady the next three seasons as he never had fewer than 168 hits in any of those years. After the 1991 season, he was released by the Royals and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers as a free agent in 1992. Seitzer made another trip to the MLB All-Star Game in 1995 after hitting .311 with the Brewers. For his career, Seitzer finished with a .295 batting average in his 12 years in the majors.

Seitzer's big day against Boston

Kevin Seitzer had some big shoes to fill in his rookie season. He was the Kansas City Royals third baseman taking over for the legendary George Brett. Seitzer showed he could handle the pressure and was having a monster rookie season in 1987. On Aug. 2, 1987, that monster season got even bigger.

Facing the Boston Red Sox and Bob Stanley that afternoon in Kansas City, Seitzer was hitting second in the Royals lineup. The Royals had a field day against four Red Sox pitchers, collecting 20 hits and scoring 13 runs. Seitzer accounted for six of those hits (in six at-bats) and drove in seven of those runs. The Royals won 13-5.

Seitzer smacked home runs in the third inning off Stanley and another in the fifth off Steve Crawford. He also scored four runs and raised his batting average to .322. He also threw in a double for good measure.

Seitzer autographs a ball from that game 33 years later

During Kevin Seitzer's big game against the Red Sox, he hit two foul balls, one which was caught by a fan named Jim Chambers. Chambers has held onto the ball hoping one day to get it signed by Seitzer. The two were recently able to meet up and Seitzer signed the ball. Both seemed to be excited about the moment.

“I got to see this ball from the day that I had a pretty good day,” Seitzer said in a video by KMBC 9 in Kansas City. “You know, it's very humbling, very cool. It's special that people still remember me. I guess that's one thing that blows me away. I forgot about 80 to 85 percent of my career, but that is one day that is very vivid in my memory bank to say the least.”

Chambers remembers that day as well. “He fouled it off and I think it kind of ricocheted off the upper deck. When it came off, there were all kinds of people in front of me. The whole section was standing up. The next thing I knew, I just stuck my hand up, my right arm, and I caught the ball. I'm really honored he did this and that it could work out the way it did.”

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.