In 1998, a promising baseball player out of the Dominican Republic graduated from Fort Osage High School in Independence, Missouri, less than a 17-minute drive to Kauffman Stadium. Maple Woods Community College, a school within Kansas City, Missouri proper and an 18-minute drive from Kauffman Stadium, offered this player a scholarship. The St. Louis Cardinals drafted this player in the 13th round of the 1999 draft. His name? Oh, just none other than Albert Pujols, one of the best baseball players of all time.
Yes, the Kansas City Royals and every other Major League Baseball team passed on Pujols multiple times.