I revisited my 1999 cover story on George Brett during last year’s appearance by the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. Now, I look back on another favorite story I wrote on the Royals in 1999 of Johnny Damon.
As the Royals’ feature writer at the time for Kansas City Sports & Fitness Magazine, my publisher told me I could go deep and make this Sept. 1999 story on Damon over 2,000 words. I was thrilled since I loved long-form journalism. Before I met with Damon for our interview, I read many magazines and all of his clippings the Royals’ media relations office gave me. Many kudos to the Royals for helping this young writer at the time. In fact, they were always very kind to me that season I covered them and always helped me with whatever I needed.
I eventually met with Damon while the Royals were finishing up another putrid season in the dog days of summer. It was an appropriate day to interview him since the first 10,000 fans 14-and-under received a Johnny Damon Life-Size poster that game at Kauffman Stadium against Tampa Bay.
We had a roughly 30-minute interview by his clubhouse locker as one of our magazine photographers took pictures. It was a very deep and personal interview with Johnny telling me about his relationship with his childhood sweetheart and then-wife Angie Vannice, his lovely twins, and how happy and proud he was of being a father. He also spoke of giving back to the community, of comparisons to him and Hall of Famer George Brett, meeting Cal Ripken as a kid, and his childhood days playing baseball. It was the kind of interview and story I dreamed about, of an introspective athlete giving thoughtful and heartfelt answers to deep questions.
I still remember my first question to Johnny that day: "What were some of the significant events growing up that helped shape you as a person or player?" That question went straight to his heart, as he opened up about his first date with Angie, their relationship, and being a new father.
A lot has changed with Johnny Damon since that interview. He divorced Angie three years later in 2002, while marrying Michelle Mangan in 2004. Johnny and Michelle now have seven kids together.
Some other things have changed. Playing in virtual obscurity in Kansas City from 1995-2000, Johnny became a national baseball celebrity with the Boston Red Sox (where he wrote a book and won a World Series in 2004) and with the New York Yankees, where he won another World Series in 2008. Johnny has also played with Oakland (before joining Boston), Detroit, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, and even the Thailand National Baseball team.
He last played in the majors on Aug. 1, 2012 at age 38 against, coincidentally, the Royals. Johnny went hitless in four at-bats, but after the game, I’m sure he got unconditional love from his kids, just how he did the night before our interview in 1999 when he went 0-for-5.
While he’s never officially announced his retirement, Johnny had a great career since his major league debut on Aug. 12 (my birthday), 1995. He played 18 years in 2,490 games with a career batting average of .284. Johnny also amassed 2,769 hits (No. 52 all time), 408 stolen bases, 235 home runs and 522 doubles.
Here is that story about Damon from 16 years ago, one of the most memorable sports features I’ve ever written.
Johnny Damon’s life changed forever when he first met Angie Vannice on April 18, 1989. Just a bright-eyed 15-year-old, Damon realized it was time to settle down. The two began dating and fell in love.
“We both knew that we were going to be together,” Damon said. “The rest is history.”
While Johnny and Angie were married on Dec. 18, 1992, their first date wasn’t exactly magical. The star Kansas City Royals outfielder laughs when recalling the scene.
“I got her in trouble,” Damon said. “Her dad was going to pick her up at Universal Studios. She had a dance practice and wasn’t there. She was out with me. She came out to one of my track meets, and I was driving. She was scared to death. I was 15 at the time driving my mom’s car.”
Damon, who actually started driving when he was 12, got Angie home that night safely and eventually won over her father’s approval. He now has his wife to thank for providing him with a positive and stabilizing influence during his teenage years. Angie taught him that he “didn’t have to go to parties and meet a new girlfriend or anything.”
She also influenced Damon to stop playing football. He heeded Angie’s call, and focused all his energies into becoming a great baseball player. As a senior at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fla., Damon was regarded as the best player in the country. He also played on a powerhouse club. When Damon stepped to the plate that year, the public address announcer would say: “Now batting for the number one team in the nation, the number one player in the nation, Johnny Damon.”
A hometown hero and legend was born. When Damon wasn’t terrorizing opposing teams with his bat and speed, he spent time signing autographs with a smile.
“I’ve always had a good backing,” Damon said. “It’s a great feeling knowing you have touched people’s lives.”
He now feels blessed to be touching the lives of his own children — Madelyn Layne and Jackson Scott. The twins were born this past year on April 22. Now, almost four months later, Damon sits by his clubhouse locker and talks thoughtfully and passionately about the demands of balancing baseball and fatherhood.
It’s 11:15 a.m. and about two hours before the Royals host the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Damon, who arrived at Kauffman Stadium at 10:30, has just returned from loosening up his aching muscles and joints in the jacuzzi. While Damon went 0-for-5 last night in a loss to Tampa Bay, he’s feeling lucky today knowing the first 10,000 fans 14-and-under receive a Johnny Damon Life-Size poster.
He actually feels lucky every day playing in Kansas City and being with his wife and twins. Damon loves the fact that the young Royals' fans and his own kids accept him unconditionally, regardless if he goes 0-for-5 or 5-for-5. He describes what transpired when he returned home from Kauffman Stadium last night at 11.
“I obviously didn’t have a good game,” said Damon, who cools off and takes a sip of Pepsi. “When you go home, you got to put on your number one parent face. They gave me a big smile that can light up the room. It’s a great feeling knowing that there are more important things out there than the game of baseball, and they show that to me every time I come up to see them.”
Damon said he and Angie then gave the twins their feeding and put them to bed. The babies slept through the night, and woke up at 8 a.m.
“They’re very good kids,” Damon said fondly. “My wife’s got the next feeding, and that’s probably going on right now. They’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Being able to see the little version of you is definitely real. My son is exactly like me and my daughter is exactly like my wife. It’s very comfortable to know that these little things rely on you so much.”
How about his most memorable occasion to date as a father?
“When they started laughing,” Damon answered. “That’s the biggest moment because you know they’re happy at that time. They seem to be doing that all the time.”
Soon, Damon politely excuses himself and says he has to take batting practice. He returns in 15 minutes. Damon is now the center of attention, as a carton full of his posters sits in the middle of the clubhouse. His teammates can’t resist having some good-natured fun. Jermaine Dye grabs four posters and throws them over to Damon, while Jeremy Giambi asks: “Johnny, can I have your autograph?” Damon smiles and chuckles.
He now unrolls the poster and notices some “controversy.” It seems Damon (6-2) is pictured in the poster with a glass of milk in his hands standing at a mere 6-feet. The caption reads: “Milk, the number one sports drink for Johnny Damon and you.”
“They have me two inches shorter,” Damon shrugs.
Nobody has ever really sold Johnny Damon short as a baseball player or a human being. He has been a giant in the community since beginning his career in Kansas City four years ago. Damon feels a responsibility as a professional athlete to give back to the needy and be a role model for children. He is currently involved in numerous charities, including serving as a spokesperson for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and co-chairman of the Medical Center of Independence Benefit Golf Classic.
Damon’s selfless spirit made him the 1998 Royals/True Value Hardware Roberto Clemente Man of the Year nominee for outstanding service to his team and the community. He was also nominated for the 1998 Branch Rickey Award, which honors the Major League baseball player who best personifies “Service Above Self.”
Damon’s voice now softens as he speaks about the one cause most dear to him — MDA. He says he grew up with a friend who had muscular dystrophy. While his friend is still confined to a wheelchair, Damon continues his fight against the disease by doing public service announcements and fundraising.
“I do my fair share,” Damon said, “but, of course, you wish you could do more. You wish you could get in the lab and find a cure for the disease.”
A sensitive and compassionate person, Damon is always reaching out to others. He described the emotional feeling he receives supporting the Wyandotte Sheriff’s Department Victims of Crime Program, which offers counseling and companionship to area youngsters who have been victims of various types of crimes. Damon, along with Frank White, George Brett and Sluggerrr (Royals' mascot), visit these children and give them hope.
“Many of them haven’t smiled in a couple of years,” said Damon, rubbing his eyes. “When they see us, we tend to bring a smile to their face. It’s definitely a great moment. A lot of them, their parents got killed. It’s real devastating the stories you hear. It seems like each story just crushes you.”
Asked where he received his giving roots, Damon is quick to credit his parents. “My father was in the Army,” Damon said. “He served our country — the greatest achievement you could have.”
Jimmy Damon was an Army staff sergeant in Thailand when he met his future wife, Yome. A few years later, Johnny was born in Fort Riley, Kan. Located just about two hours west of Kauffman Stadium, Johnny Damon was destined to be a Kansas City Royal.
The military family, which also included Johnny’s older brother, James, moved to Okinawa, Japan, Clarksville, Tenn., and finally to Orlando. Damon grew up idolizing James, who was always the best athlete on the block. Johnny wasn’t so bad either, showing remarkable power as a 6-year-old playing T-Ball in Tennessee. He liked all sports through the years, including track, soccer and football. Baseball, though, was always his first love.
He honed his skills as a teenager living in a “middle class area” in Orlando with a “bunch of tough kids who would stay out all night and play baseball until the sun came down.”
“We were all pretty good ballplayers,” Damon said. “We had tons of fun running around the neighborhood. We’d run into trees. That gave us toughness. I just think my childhood was so good. My parents let me be free in whatever I did. I was able to skip days of school to hang out with my parents and my brother as long as I got good grades. I got straight A’s in high school, so I skipped a lot more days than I should have,” he said, smiling.
Damon certainly hasn’t skipped many days on the baseball field. In fact, he recently surpassed Hal McRae and became the Royals’ all-time endurance king when he played in his 264th consecutive game on July 31 against the Texas Rangers.
It has indeed been an interesting journey for Damon since his debut in Kansas City on August 12, 1995. Fresh from Double-A in Wichita, the young phenom started that night in center field against Seattle. All Damon did was collect three hits, one run, and one RBI.
“My heart was racing a 100 miles an hour,” he said. “It was non stop. It took a couple of days to come down to earth. That’s a day I’ll always remember.”
Damon didn’t stop there, hitting safely in his next seven games. He finished the season playing in 47 games and batting .282. Arguably the most hyped Royals' player since rookie Clint Hurdle graced the cover of Sports Illustrated on March 20, 1978, Damon was hailed as the team’s savior and the “next George Brett.”
Although Damon has produced consistent numbers the past four years (he was hitting a career .275 coming into the season), they are certainly not superstar statistics. The hype has now finally died, and Damon is thriving. Despite a rough early season, he’s having his best year in the majors and hitting around .300. So what about those early comparisons to Brett?
“I mean I never wanted to be George Brett,” he said. “I only wanted to be Johnny Damon. That’s where my identity is now. George and I are different players. He was a third baseman and I’m an outfielder. I guess we’ll leave it at that.”
Damon said he pushes himself daily to reach his potential. Even in the dog days of summer with the Royals well below .500, he and his teammates continue coming to the park with a purpose.
“It’s too far in the season to just quit and not strive to be the best that we can be,” Damon said. “All we have to do is go out there and gut it out, just show the fans that we’re still out there playing hard. Granted, we do have a lot of guys who are tired. It’s been a roller coaster ride all year, but there’s nothing better that we’d like to do than play baseball.”
As for today’s game against Tampa Bay, Damon is eager to play baseball and give the fans something to remember.
“It’s going to be a good day,” he said. “Hopefully, the kids will put it (poster) on the wall for a very long time and not play darts with my picture. They can measure their growth progress. It’s exciting. Hopefully, I’ll got out there and steal some bases and make this an even more special day.”
Game time nears as Royals' public address announcer Dan Hurst introduces the home team’s starting lineup: “Batting first, playing left field, Johnny Damon. Honorary left fielder is Alex Martinez.” Damon and the boy run out onto the field. The Royals' star now kneels down and signs a baseball for Alex. As all the Royals and honorary players are finally introduced, Damon trots back to the dugout and high fives Sluggerrr. He waves to fans and signs more autographs for kids in the stands.
Damon has always had time for the fans. After all, he vividly remembers the day as a child when he met Cal Ripken during spring training at Tinker Field in Orlando.
“He took time out to sign autographs,” Damon said. “That was definitely a thrill to meet him. It’s hard to believe that 20 years down the road that he still takes the time to sign autographs for fans. It leaves a special mark, especially with a young kid like me at the time.”
Coincidentally, some people in baseball said Damon would eventually inherit Ripken’s role as the industry’s ambassador when he arrived in the majors. While he probably won’t ever break Ripken’s all-time record for consecutive games played (2,632), Damon is definitely leaving his own mark with the next generation.
Both children and even adults alike appreciate Damon’s generosity and humble nature. Royals' scouting director Art Stewart paid Damon perhaps the ultimate compliment when he told USA Today Baseball Weekly in 1996:
“If I had a son, I’d want him to be like Johnny.”
Kansas City’s own Johnny David Damon had a hit and scored one run this afternoon against Tampa Bay. While the Royals lost 5-3, Damon knows his wife and kids will welcome him with open arms when he returns home.
“Having twins is supposed to be a hard thing to do, but we’re having fun with it,” he said. “We’re winging it and whatever happens, happens. That’s the way we both approach life. ... I’ve always been one of those guys way out of this planet as far as the way I think. I always think you got to have fun. Just live life and be happy with whatever you’re given.”
