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Vahe Gregorian: Through 43 Years In Prison, Sports Was A Guiding Light For Exonerated Kevin Strickland 사설토토

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Days after an exonerated Kevin Strickland was released from the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron after the tragedy of serving the longest known wrongful conviction in state history, the Kansas City Royals learned of his yearning to feel the grass beneath his bare feet at Kauffman Stadium.

So they had "a little something for me," as Strickland described the tender invitation — one that coursed more deeply than the Royals could have anticipated in a man who says sports has been vital to his survival.

"Yes, sir," he said in a phone interview with The Kansas City Star on Wednesday. "Without sports, I might not be here talking to you on this phone today."

That day, the scoreboard touting his own long-anticipated arrival on the field ("MR. STRICKLAND; WELCOME TO THE K!!") was a variation on a wistful vision for Strickland, who on April 28 will be a panelist for the Midwest Innocence Project's 2022 Faces of Innocence virtual event.

The scene harkened back not merely through his piercing 43 years of wrongful incarceration. Or to a summer spent cleaning those stadium stands and looking longingly on the field.

It cast him reeling in the years to a youth baseball career that made him believe as a young teen, and even now, that playing pro baseball had been his rightful destiny.

"When I look back now, you're making me smile; there were some nice moments in my life," he said, ruefully adding, "That was my calling, and I let it slip by me. I did."

Fanciful as it might sound, it's a moving experience to hear Strickland think of some of the sweet days he wishes he had back. Before he was sent on what he called "assignment for the government" over most of the last half-century, he lamented drifting from baseball and having "kind of lost my way." He quickly noted, "It wasn't in a murder way, so let's get that straight."

So on that sunny day at Kauffman last fall, he gazed around and immersed himself in a setting beyond what met the eye.

He thought about what it might be like to chase down a ball in the cavernous outfield. He pictured himself diving for one or crashing the outfield wall to clasp another.

Most of all, though, the 62-year-old simply absorbed the sensation of the gorgeous turf beneath his feet. He stood enraptured for the few minutes he could before his spinal stenosis was going to leave him shaking in pain.

"Unbelievable. I couldn't believe it," he said. "And then I felt it. And it was just plush. It was plush. Almost wanted to reach down and get me a piece and chew it. But it was plush. ...

"I didn't feel a bump in the road. Wasn't no pebble. It was my dream. I'd always wanted to be on a major league field."

He also appreciated the nice lunch the Royals provided that day. And what he figured was a double-stuffed bag of apparel featuring a heap of gear he hasn't even had a chance to open yet. He received an autographed Sal Perez jersey, too, and another with his own surname stitched above the No. 21.

The number stood for the year he was at long last released ... Even as he still is seeking to find more emotional freedom.

"I still ain't there right now today," he said. "I'm only out four months. I haven't gotten set up. I'm still under everybody's tutelage and guidance. I don't know my directions on the road.

"But, yes, that field. It gave me that sense of, 'You're here, man; you made it.' Yes, yes it did. It was a relief. I didn't cry-cry. But I think I got a little teary-eyed out there."

Powerful as that statement from Strickland is to ponder in itself, it's also a glimpse into something long sustaining for Strickland.