1. (In a thread mood today) I'm sure @jazayerli or many of the other Royals fans I interact with on Twitter can do this better, but as Alex Gordon's career has entirely been during my time at BA, I wanted to spell out a little send-off for how significant he was to that fan base.

2. In the middle of the 00s, the Royals were awful, but worse than that, they were awful with very little reason for fans to have hope. There was a crazy, utterly flukish 83-win season in 2003, but year after year, the Royals were one of the worst teams in baseball.

3. When the Royals had quality players (like the Dye-Beltran-Damon OF) those players were quickly dealt away in awful trades before they could hit free agency. The team also had a poor farm system.

4. Gordon (and Zack Greinke) was the first glimmers of hope. Gordon was the BA College Player of the Year in 2005 and Minor League POY in 2006. When Gordon was drafted by KC, they didn't have one prospect in the top 50 of the BA Top 100. Gordon lept to No. 2 in 2007.

5. Gordon reached the majors in 2007 and his first two seasons were very solid. But then in 2009, it all fell apart. He struggled defensively and offensively and eventually was sent back down to the minors to learn to play the outfield.

6. Remember that Zack Greinke had barely pitched in 2006 as he decided to walk away from the game. At this time if you managed to stick with the Royals as a fan, you probably thought you weren't allowed to have nice things.

7. But Gordon's struggles in reality meant that he ended up returning to prominence just as the "Blue Wave" (as we called it on a BA cover) started to arrive. In 2013, the Royals won 86 games--their most wins since 1989. They lost the World Series in 2014 then won it in 2015.

8. By that point, Gordon was legitimately one of the Royals' stars, a can't-miss prospect who got off track but regained his form. He had plenty of help by that point.

9. There was a time in the mid-to-late 2000s when Gordon was one of the few reasons for hope for K.C. fans. And unlike a lot of times when fans are trying to find hope when there is no reason to be hopeful, Gordon ended up meeting those expectations.

Congrats on a great career.