Kansas City Goes For A New Kind Of Double Play

As the revelry faded, 37,000 Kansas City Royals fans filed into a chilly September night and an uncertain future for their team. The farewell to George Brett ended a two-decade love affair between the town and a superstar who led the Royals to six division titles and a World Series championship. Only one figure looms larger in the history of the franchise: Ewing M. Kauffman, the pharmaceuticals magnate and founder. Less than two months before Brett retired, Kauffman lost a long battle with cancer.

Finding a successor to Brett will be tough enough. Replacing Kauffman's money-is-no-object passion in one of Major League Baseball's smallest and least lucrative markets is another matter entirely. Before he died, Kauffman was unable to find a buyer committed to keeping the team in Kansas City. So, led by longtime Kauffman pal David D. Glass, CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., civic boosters and a network of Kauffman friends are working on a complex scheme to provide stopgap financing. Equally tricky, they're trying to remake the Royals into a scrappy, low-budget club that will attract a buyer.