Kansas City Kansas Community College

For one weekend, players in the Jayhawk Baseball Conference were able to enjoy a dream – a dream of playing on a major league baseball field.

Called the “KJCCC All-Star Weekend at the K,” approximately 200 student athletes from 19 community colleges in Kansas took part in tryouts and played games at the Kansas City Royals’ famed Kauffman Stadium.

“It was really cool,” said Steve Burleson, the long-time head baseball coach at Kansas City Kansas Community College and President of the KJCCC Baseball Association who coordinated the All-Star Weekend.

“I think everyone was excited about the fact they got to play on a major league field. If you can’t create baseball dreams doing that, I’m not sure what it would take. Kauffman Stadium is absolutely beautiful, very striking and the Royals did an incredible job, all the way from the field crew to dollar day at the concession stand.”

Burleson said he was approached by Royals’ area scout Steve Gossett and then met with vice-president Steve Williams about hosting the event. An annual fall event, the All-Star Weekend had been held at Wichita in recent years after being alternated between sites in the East and West Divisions. “Dayton Moore (Royals General Manager) played at Garden City so there was a touchstone there,” said Burleson, who said there was no hesitation in accepting the Royals’ offer which included no charge for the use of the facilities. “There’s not a lot of things that will pass 19-0 but even the schools that had to travel six or seven hours voted for it.”

A two-day event, teams from the Eastern Conference took part in three-hour tryouts in the morning and then played 9 and 7-inning games on Friday with teams from the West following up with the same agenda on Saturday. Teams were divided on the basis of last spring’s standings with the odd finishing teams (1-3-5-7-9) opposing the even numbered (2-4-6-8-10). “Each school was allowed to bring six players so each squad had approximately 30 players,” said Burleson.

Morning tryouts from 8:30-11:30 a.m. were open to all sophomores and selected freshmen with professional tools. All players ran 60-yard dashes, the benchmark for speed for professional baseball; all pitchers threw from the mound and all position players swung the bat. In addition, infielders threw from the shortstop positions; outfielders fielded and threw from 275 feet; and catchers received pitches and threw to second base.

As host, KCKCC provided its athletic training staff directed by Rodney Christensen, its baseball staff of Burleson and assistants Matt Goldbeck and Damian Stambersky and its 35-man baseball squad for both days of the weekend. “The players ran the gate, did the announcing, helped at every evaluation, shagged for the games and just did a great job and made it go,” said Burleson.

A two-year deal with the Royals, the All-Star Weekend will return to Kauffman Stadium again in 2010. “We’ll assess it after that,” said Burleson, who ended his term as president of the KJCCC Baseball Association. Mike Warren of Barton County is the new president.