New York Yankees send condolences to Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office after deputy's death

The statistically most successful franchise in professional baseball sends condolences to the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office and the family of fallen Deputy Robert Kunze.

For the past three years, the New York Yankees have been quietly sending flowers to families and departments of slain law-enforcement officers across the U.S.

discussed the outreach in an article from May, weeks after the Yankees sent a bouquet of flowers to the Yarmouth, Mass. Police Department, grieving the death of one of its officers.

"Officer (Sean) Gannon was shot and killed while serving a warrant in neighboring Marston Mills, a tiny village in Cape Cod, where the Yankees are considered bitter rivals," the New York Times reports.

The Times reports the Yankees' outreach to departments across the country grew from a gesture it began decades ago, sending flowers to funerals of officers killed in the New York Metropolitan area.

The outreach expanded in 2015 when a Yankee vice president and chief security officer heard about a police officer killed in another state and felt moved to act.