SURPRISE, Ariz. — As he’s done virtually every year since being drafted by the Royals in 2007, Danny Duffy last month checked into the very spring training complex from which he’s launched nearly every season for half his life now.
As usual over the last decade, he’s been accompanied by his Alaskan Malamute, Sadie. He still takes those marathon therapeutic walks each day — even if he laughingly considers himself “too long in the tooth” to go much past a seven-or eight-miler now.
And he’s once more here at the behest of Dayton Moore, who 16 years ago made him the third-round pick of the first draft he oversaw as general manager of the Royals — the team for which Duffy became a vibrant part of back-to-back World Series appearances and the quintessential teammate and fan icon with his “bury me a Royal” mindset.
