Kansas City Star designer Charles Gooch sits in the center of the newsroom, surrounded by televisions. He knows that this is going to be one of the front pages that people save for posterity.
“A lot of my friends on Twitter tell me no pressure, that they want to see the definitive A1 that they can put in their files and hang up on their walls,” Gooch says.
It’s the bottom of the 8th, Royals are winning 2-1, and Gooch is staring at a blank page with just the masthead. He’s getting the rest of the paper designed, so he’s ready as soon as the game ends.
Down the hall, editor Mike Fannin and managing editor Steve Shirk take turns standing in a special spot in front of a 10-inch TV in sports editor Jeff Gordon’s office. Apparently, one of the two of them has to be there throughout the game for the Royals to win.
Fannin says Thursday’s front page is yet another big one — it’s the paper that will announce the Royals return to the World Series after 29 years. Already, some of the playoff front pages have been hot commodities, especially the one after the wild card victory, with catcher Salvatore Perez (who hit in the game-winning run) and the words “Salvation” plastered across it.
“I think we got hundreds and maybe even thousands of calls for that paper the next day, because we didn’t do an over-run of that paper, or a small one — yet that became the commodity and people were selling them online,” Fannin says.
Each time the Royals have reached a new stage they have to make A1 slightly more epic, says Fannin.
“Making sure we give it the appropriate treatment that it deserves today, but that we also give ourselves room to make it bigger and bolder,” Fannin says.
There’s surprisingly few people in the newsroom, half-a-dozen gather for the final inning. At that final out, there’s a brief cheer and then game’s on for the editing team.
They usually have 90 minutes from the last out to edit a dozen stories, choose photos, design pages and write headlines. At least Wednesday’s game was in the afternoon, and just nine innings — late nights in the past week have been pretty brutal.
The editors are soon back at their desks adding headline ideas to a Google document. They periodically cluster around Gooch’s desk in the middle of the newsroom to discuss.
“Royal Highness?” There’s a possible marijuana reference.
“Look out, World!” That one has a pesky comma.
“Sweeping Into The World Series?” Too generic.
An hour after the win, images start coming in from the team of photographers out at the game, as well as watch parties around the city.
Around 7 p.m., Charles Gooch starts testing out two headlines on a photo of the team in a big joyful pile. The masthead has been reduced, and the K of the Kansas City Star wears a little crown.
By 8 p.m., the main part of the front page is almost set. The headline?
"World Class."
“They’ve made it to this elite level of baseball. They’re officially now in the World Series. Thus, a world class baseball team,” Fannin says.
And thus, the team at the Kansas City Star puts another paper to bed, and creates a front page for Kansas Citians everywhere to treasure.
