The Kansas City Royals, whether they know it or not, have the greatest celebrity baseball fans in the history of the game, and that takes into account all of the New York-born-and-raised stars who have worn pinstripes in the last 100+ years. Since 2010, Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle and Jason Sudeikis, along with David Koechner and Eric Stonestreet, have hosted the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend in Kansas City to raise money for the Cancer Center at Children’s Mercy with a celebrity poker tournament and auction, and the results always include some hilarious antics and a lot of money raised for a great cause.
So where does former MLB catcher and manager Gene Lamont come into play? One time, when this celebrity gang was watching KC play the Detroit Tigers, Will Ferrell decided to make life a living hell for Lamont, who was the third base coach at the time. Lamont has since taken a seat on the Tigers’ bench, but Rudd and Co. have continued the tradition of heckling him by shouting his name after each rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” that they sing at Kauffman Stadium… even when the Royals aren’t playing the Tigers. Naturally, with the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend coming up on June 20, the guys are preparing for this year’s 7th inning stretch by reminding us of their previous efforts.
Two years ago, classier and more intelligent St. Louis Cardinals fan Jon Hamm joined the guys for the Royals/Cardinals series, and they had a little trouble explaining the joke to Stonestreet.
Last year, Rudd and Riggle had a much larger crew with them, including Damon Wayans Jr., Rich Eisen, Jon Glaser, Johnny Knoxville, Angela Kinsey, Samm Levine, Kevin Pollak, and Wilmer Valderrama, who apparently had a tough time remembering the lyrics and a guy’s name.
Olivia Wilde also once took batting practice with the Royals and she’s as powerful as she is beautiful, because her bat broke in half. That led to her and Sudeikis being even more impossibly adorable than they always are.
