By Pete Grathoff, The Kansas City Star
Courtesy of the Kansas City Royals
In March, Fanatics changed it focus from producing uniforms for Major League Baseball players to helping front-line workers in the COVID-19 battle.
Major League Baseball suspended the start of its season because of the coronavirus and there has been a need in hospitals for protective gear. So Fanatics has made masks and gowns for hospitals instead of jerseys.
Fanatics and MLB are covering the costs, the league said.
Last week, the Royals received 2,500 masks from Fanatics made from the same material as the jerseys the team wears. The Royals donated those masks to the University of Kansas Health System.
Cook said the masks are not medical grade but fill a need at the University of Kansas Cancer Center for patients who don’t have a mask or are riding shuttles on the campus.
The Royals also have donated food for healthcare workers this month.
Infielder Nicky Lopez bought 450 pizzas to KU’s Indian Creek campus, while general manager Dayton Moore met with doctors and nurses via a video chat and sent gift cards for donuts.
“Obviously the thing that’s on everybody’s mind is when we’re going to play baseball again,” Moore said in the video, “and that will certainly happen. But it’s only going to happen, and the only reason we have hope, truthfully, is because of people like you, those individuals on the front lines that are doing everything they can not only to give us hope but to fight this virus, this deadly virus.”
On Monday, Royals employees helped Harvesters distribute food to 3,000 households at a mobile food distribution at the Truman Sports Complex.