SURPRISE, Ariz. -- As the Royals gear up for Opening Night on Sunday against the Mets and the raising of the World Series championship banner, club officials also have had to prepare for a "second" Opening Day on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Royals will hand out their World Series rings, perhaps the most special day for players.
There is no Major League set policy for which players get rings. It varies from club to club. Recent World Series winners -- Giants and Red Sox -- issued their World rings with the same formula as the Royals.
The Royals' policy is that every player who was on the 25-man roster during the championship season for at least one day gets a World Series ring.
Several of those players are no longer on the team, such as Jason Frasor, Alex Rios and Greg Holland and others. Those three are not under contract with any team and have been invited to participate at Kauffman Stadium for the ring ceremony.
The Royals also will do their best to present, in person, rings to those players who can't be in attendance, such as Ben Zobrist, Johnny Cueto, Louis Coleman, Ryan Madson, Franklin Morales, Jeremy Guthrie and many others who are either with other teams, trying to make other clubs, or in the Minor Leagues.
"We always try our best to hand the rings to those players in person," general manager Dayton Moore said, "whether it is me or [manager] Ned [Yost] or someone else in the organization. I think that's important."
The previous season, when the Royals were American League champions, they were able to deliver those rings in person to departed players such as James Shields, Billy Butler, Norichika Aoki, Johnny Giavotella and others.