The ringtone on Byron Brooks' phone resonated outside Kauffman Stadium on Sunday, honoring his favorite Royals player.
"Oh, baby, we're going to the World Series again," pitcher Yordano Ventura could be heard saying.
Earlier in the morning, after that ringtone greeted Brooks with news Ventura had died in a car crash, Brooks joined other Royals fans who flocked to Kauffman Stadium to pay their respects.
Flowers, candles and a few photographs were placed outside the gate behind home plate.
At 11:30 a.m., a Royals employee emerged from a set of double doors and lowered the flags surrounding the stadium to half-staff.
"When you grow so close to these players _ whether it's baseball, football, whatever _ when you lose one, you kinda feel like you're losing one of your own," said Katie Okenquist, who dropped off flowers with her husband and two-year-old son, Alex. "It was just a really hard thing to hear this morning."
The majority of Royals fans who traveled to Kauffman Stadium said they received the news via social media. After scrolling across Twitter, Michael Schley, 20, got in his blue pickup and dropped off a bouquet of flowers.
In white chalk, Royals fan Michael Vittoria wrote, "RIP Ace, 1991-2017
"To the best competitor ever."
Some fans took pictures. Others stood silently behind the growing memorial.
"He was the ultimate Royal," Schley said. "I remember in Game 6 when he didn't want to come out of the game. That always stuck with me."
