KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's the weekend Kansas City Royals fans have been waiting for all winter, FanFest.
For the past 11 years, more than 100,000 people have turned out to celebrate Royals baseball a few weeks before the team reports to Arizona for spring training.
Some excited fans waited hours to get in the Kansas City Convention Center. One particular little fan couldn't wait to hit some balls.
"He started last summer getting really into the baseball games at 'The K' (Kauffman Stadium), enjoying stuff like that," said Matt Bosky, who attended FanFest with his wife and son. "Having the opportunity to come here and play more and me not miss any of the game is just a lot of fun."
It's a bonding experience Bosky said he will always remember: "It's the best feeling ever. Baseball was my favorite sport growing up, so him being able to jump into that already and having an opportunity like this in the winter to do that is really cool."
Other fans raced in to get in line for autographs, including Sam and Richard Waters. They met a younger fan, Brandon, years ago bonded over the signs each brought to games.
When Brandon's mom couldn't take him to Fan Fest, they offered to let him tag along.
"We had signs, hence the crown," Sam said. "Brandon had little signs and we connected through our signs and how we are going to make them for each game. We just kind of adopted him, so he's our Royal grandson."
They now make signs for all the players they love. The Waters said Fan Fest is an experience of its own.
"Everybody here is here to be part of the Royals family," Sam said.
