Details Are Finally Out About The Infamous Kansas City Royals Panty Raid of '14

In 2014, as the Kansas City Royals were making what was then seen as an unlikely run to the World Series, the Department of Homeland Security had an altogether different kind of run in mind.

A run into a store to confiscate a bunch of panties.

Vice has the details, which it acquired through some comically delayed responses to their open records requests. They are, in essence, that a go-getting Assistant U.S. Attorney got an idea to make a splashy case out of some intellectual property theft, and sicced some ICE officers on the case.

From Vice:

"The unnamed officer wrote, “They [the Kansas City office] are trying to get their numbers up and will accept any leads for controlled delivery in Kansas or Missouri, even if they do not meet the criteria because the AUSA Prosecutor is eager.”"

This resulted in “Operation Team Player,” and what it amounted to was that the government decided to bust up a lingerie shop and confiscate some panties that bore marks looking too much like the Kansas City Royals’ intellectual property.

There is some dispute as to how the officers even found out about this little lingerie shop, known as Birdie’s, with the shop owner saying some of the cops were customers, and the cops saying they just heard about it on the radio. In any case, they went undercover and came out with 35 boy short panties, 17 thongs, two boxers and a pair of “men’s underwear,” which I’ll take to mean “tighty whiteys.”

The PR effect was … misjudged. Turns out citizens generally do not like government raids on small businesses, but they do like stories about panty raids.

"The next morning, someone else on the same thread exhibited a fundamental misunderstanding of the internet’s interest in panty raids by writing, “So far it appears to have just localized press. Hopefully, it won’t make it out of the local news bubble.” The person also encouraged reaching out to MLB only as a precautionary measure, and that “I’d hate to pour any fuel on it.” MLB representatives didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment."

The raid made national news and, considering its goals at the outset, maybe that wasn’t all bad. Charges were never brought against Birdie’s, however, which says it made a grand total of about $40 off the panties.