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Wednesday's announcement that the Royals will build a new ballpark at Hallmark headquarters in Kansas City brought back fond memories for Judy Manning.
"He was just a poor boy from southern Indiana who grew up enjoying art," she said of her husband.
Judy was married to her husband, Shannon Manning, for 62 years.
Shannon Manning passed away four years ago.
In 1967, he was recruited by Hallmark to work in its package design department, where he often worked with paper products and ornate decor.
She remembered a quiet and kind man that always had a knack for creation.
Her den studio in her senior living community is lined with his artwork.
"Any trip we’d take, he always had a sketchbook and a pencil or pen," Manning said.
It was only a few years after her husband began his Hallmark job that the Kauffman family asked the company to have its designers create a lasting logo for the new team.
"They chose Shannon’s over 16, 20 people who designed emblems, but they chose Shannon’s. A wise decision, I thought," she said.
Manning remembered the excitement and disbelief the Kauffman's selected his work.
There were even perks that came with being selected, including season tickets for a year and complimentary tickets to some games after that first season.
It wasn't about the prize to Shannon, but how he used his passion and creativity.
"It’s so clever, a lot of people don’t realize that the logo is a takeoff of home plate," Manning explained. "Of course, the crown, Hallmark, the Royals, it’s all together. They're family."
At Wednesday's press conference, where the Royals and Hallmark announced the downtown stadium project, Don Hall, Jr., executive chairman at Hallmark, mentioned Manning's creation.
"There's an interesting history the Royals and Hallmark share," he said. "John [Sherman] alluded to it. When the Royals came to Kansas City, they adopted the crown. That has become one of Major League's most enduring and unmistakably Kansas City icons. That crown was designed by a Hallmark artist. When a new Royals stadium opens here at Crown Center, it will return to the very neighborhood where it was created."
Manning's work was also featured in a stadium hype video shared at the announcement gathering and on social media.
Since our start at the corner of 22nd and Brooklyn, we were founded to give a deserving city its Major League moment.
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) April 22, 2026
Today, that mission endures as we return downtown, driven by homegrown leadership and a deep commitment to Kansas City and to generations of fans. https://t.co/bkJjLXnnMh pic.twitter.com/PnfqpotAGv
"I almost broke down in tears, really," Manning said. "I wanted that. I wanted that to be the case. I wanted them to hang onto that logo, and of course, the scoreboard. I always thought the scoreboard was wonderful when we were at the stadium."
Manning spends much of her day in that den studio, surrounded by her husband's artwork and working on pieces of her own.
"It’s comforting," she said. "It makes me feel like he’s near. He’s got his arms around me every time I’m in that room."
But there's one piece of art she keeps near her, in her bedroom. It's the final paper sculpture he created, an intricate image of Kauffman Stadium and the scoreboard that bears his design.
"The last piece he did, the last paper sculpture he did, was of the Royals stadium," she explained. "I hope that the Royals will want it back, and put it in the Hall of Fame."
There's plenty of Royals memorabilia inside her home, a tribute to her husband and the team they love, coming home.
"I hope that it never fades, baseball will never fade," Manning said. "Baseball is here to stay and we think that the emblem is here to stay too now. He would be ever so proud."
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