The Royals enjoyed an open date on the spring training schedule, the last one before the team headed north to start the season.

Manager Joe Gordon, first base coach Jo Jo White (not to be confused with the basketball player), and general manager Cedric Tallis took advantage of the day off to do some fishing. Things were going well until White ran the boat up on a sandbar. They managed to get the boat free, but Gordon lost a $60 fishing rod that fell overboard. The manager drily commented, “Jo Jo wound up catching the most fish anyway, but he didn’t run the boat anymore.”

In other organizational news, the Omaha Royals and the city of Omaha agreed to a two-year lease on Rosenblatt Stadium. The holdup was due to negotiations about concessions rights; the city’s agreement with the concessionaire would have kept all that income from the Royals. But the new agreement gave the team half of the city’s share. Of course, the Royals would call Rosenblatt home through the 2010 season.

Today’s birthdays: Dwight Taylor (1960), Robinson Tejeda (1982), Devon Lowery (1983)