On Tuesday morning, 12 miles down the road from Royals camp, a television crew prepared to go live inside a spacious room at the Peoria Sports Complex. A bank of cameras sat atop a platform in the back. A row of television screens flashed the same image: A Royals cornerstone wearing a different uniform, accompanied by the same five words.
“Welcome to San Diego Eric Hosmer.”
This was the first day of the rest of Hosmer’s baseball life, and most everything was different, from the uniform colors, to the league, to the location of the spring training facility on Bell Road.