Advertisement

Thieves steal huge cutout of Royals player from billboard

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer
(Picture via @AFGutierrez on Twitter)
(Picture via @AFGutierrez on Twitter)

This may sound like the plot of an upcoming Ocean's 11 movie, but we assure you it's not. Thieves in Kansas City have stolen a huge Kansas City Royals player cutout from a local billboard.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]

The billboard in question is an advertisement for Hy-Vee, a store that sponsors the Royals. The backdrop of the billboard is made to look like an outfield wall, while a 3D cutout of a giant, generic Royals player can be seen scaling the wall in order to make a catch. Now, that giant, generic Royals player is gone!

We knew Royals' supporters were intense, but this takes fandom to another level. According to WDAF-TV in Kansas City, the cutout of the player weighs 150 pounds and is 14 feet tall. That means that the heist likely involved multiple people, and that it was planned well in advance.

The whole thing sounds incredibly ridiculous. Even the Vice President of the billboard company, Bob Fessler, didn't believe it when he heard the news, according to WDAF-TV.

"I thought it was a joke. I really did. The thing's 14 feet tall, weighs about 150 pounds, and it's connected, it's all threaded to the board in four different spots," said Fessler. "I don't know how they would have hauled this off. I hope somebody sees it. However they got it out of here and we can figure that out."

Fessler goes on to state that the cutout couldn't have been hauled away in a pickup truck, and some thought had to be put into transportation, so ... yeah ... the whole thing is much more elaborate than a bunch of fans stealing the player on a whim.

While the 3D player cutout is valued at $7,500, this likely wasn't stolen for the money. And given how unique that item is, it's probably not going to show up in a pawn shop or on eBay.

More than likely, the giant cutout is currently sitting in someone's basement right now. It's the newest art piece in their Royals fan-cave. Residents of Kansas City take note, if your friend invites you over to come check out their new, and definitely not stolen 3D cutout of a Royals player, you should probably be a little skeptical.

[Elsewhere: Rockies rookie Trevor Story is on pace to make the wrong kind of history]

In the movies, the underdog, rag-tag heist team normally gets away with it and everyone involved lives happily ever after. We're guessing the ending of the real-life version of this story might wind up being more of a grittier reboot.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

The StewPod: A baseball podcast by Yahoo Sports
Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed

- - - - - - -

Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik