a memorial patch for david glass

less than two months after he sold the team, the royals' second owner, david glass, passed away. the team responded by adding a memorial patch to their jerseys for the 2020 season - both in spring training and the regular season.  the patch is highly visible on greg holland's card from 2020 topps update:

glass passed away on january 7, 2020 and he sold the team in november of the previous year. glass had made his fortune through an executive level career with walmart that began in 1976. he was walmart's ceo when he took over the reins of the royals at the end of the 1993 season following the death of the franchise's founding owner, ewing kauffman. the patch worn for glass is slightly different than the one the team wore for kauffman during the final month or so of the 1993 season.

under glass' "leadership", the royals sank to the bottom of the american league central. he became the sole owner in 2000, and by then, the royals were perennial losers. there were only four seasons under his leadership that saw the royals post a winning record although two of those were in 2014 and 2015, when the team won the american league pennant. in 2015, of course, the royals won their first world series title since 1985, but in 2019 they finished 42 games out of first place in their division.

the new owner, john sherman, has his work cut out for him, but maybe minority owner patrick mahomes jr can help bring some consistent success to the franchise.