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By Sara Normand
That day of optimism and excitement is almost upon us. As the sun rises in the east over the Ohio River, and even hours before, fanatical parents and their smiling kids set up camp and line the sidewalks of Race Street and others downtown. They could be smiling because this day marks the change of season, the time to pack away the heavy coats and the long pants, and the unofficial dawn of spring. They could be smiling because they get to skip school and work. Or even more, they could be smiling because it’s the day that the nation’s pastime with one of the richest traditions begins—baseball. It’s Opening Day in Cincinnati.
In a few hours, the dormant stadiums around the country will come to life, including Cincinnati’s own Great American Ballpark, who turns three-years-old this Monday. The grass will sparkle with the dew, and the smell of freshly cut green will tickle the noses of many. The stands will be filled with the long-awaited hotdogs, popcorn, and licorice that only taste that good at a baseball game. Stats, scores, and pictures will dance on the scoreboards, all lit up, as the mascots and players dance around the dugout. And the murmur from the crowd will erupt into hollers and clapping, symbolizing the enthusiasm in thinking that this could be the year.
With every Opening Day game, fans hope it will be their team’s year. Just as unpredictable as the spring weather may be, so too is the game of baseball. Who would have guessed that the Boston Red Sox, a team that has been cursed 86 years from the trade of Babe Ruth to the Yankees, would sweep the Cardinals for the 2004 Championship!? So what’s next for baseball fans who feared the end of the world had come? Can the Red Sox repeat? Will the Cubs take the next crown? Will Barry Bonds ever admit to using steroids? And will steroids overshadow all other aspects of this game? These are all legitimate questions as another season of baseball rolls in next week on Opening Day.
Next week’s openers the most anticipated contests of the year for this sport, coming after a drought of several months. Sure, there’s plenty of spring training action, but it barely quenches fans’ thirsts. Do the numbers from spring training even really count? There answer is NO. Reds pitcher Josias Manzanillo pretty much secured a setup role for himself a few years ago with his spring training performance where hitters couldn’t touch him, yet as the regular season progressed, Manzanillo struggled to get anyone out.
But Opening Day isn’t all about finding out who gets to start at what position. It’s also about seeing if the President of the United States has an arm or not. More than ten Presidents have delivered the first pitch on Opening Day, and one in particular was unlike any other. In 1950 Harry S. Truman showcased his versatility by throwing out balls with both of his arms. George W. Bush saw some action of his own, delivering the first pitch ever at the new Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati in 2003.
Opening Day is not only the Commander in Chief’s time to shine however. Several feats involving the first officially recognized franchise, the Cincinnati Reds, made it in the books on this seemingly national holiday in the making. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, at the late Riverfront Stadium, Hank Aaron tied Ruth’s leading 714 career home runs with his first swing of the season. The Reds didn’t have any better luck in 1998, when Pokey Reese became only the second shortstop in baseball history to make four errors on Opening Day, and interestingly enough, three of them came in one inning! Yet on the flip side, Cincinnati’s Frank Robinson hit more home runs on Opening Day than anyone in history (8), followed by a current Reds player, Ken Griffey, Jr., who is tied with Ruth, Willie Mays, and Eddie Mathews with seven first game long-balls. Speaking of Reds’ ties, Cincinnati also happens to be tied with the New York Mets and the old St. Louis Browns for the most consecutive Opening Day wins (9) through 2004. Maybe the Reds’ privilege of hosting the “Opening of Openers,” which celebrates the fact that they were the first baseball team ever, played to their advantage nine straight times.
This year, the Reds are looking to start an Opening Day winning streak of that sort again. Actually, they’re looking for an Opening Day winning streak of ANY sort at their new home, having lost both commencement games in 2003 and 2004. The game against the Mets will come shortly after one of the oldest and most famous parades in the country—the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade. Findlay Market is Ohio’s oldest continuously operated public market (since 1852) and is sponsoring its 85th parade, which kicks off at 11 a.m. How convenient that time is for young Reds fans looking to miss a little school! And why not? Fred Schwed, Jr., explained Cincinnati fans’ feelings towards Opening Day that “the citizens of this Ohio city do not consider Opening Day just as Opening Day. They consider it one small notch below Christmas.” Well maybe instead of having one day off school or work, baseball fans should take a whole week to watch all the opening games around the country!
These first games and the ceremonies haven’t always been the same though. Baseball started having an opening night game on Sundays in 1994. This year’s Sunday night opener will start out with a bang on April 3, when the Red Sox explode into action against American League East rival, the Yankees. Also, some openers even take place out of the country now in places like Japan or Puerto Rico. This disappoints a number of fans who feel that opening the season of out the country “un-Americanizes” the sport. Why should they have to wait to see their team open the season in person? They are, after all, the loyal fans. And finally, Opening Day just hasn’t been the same in Cincinnati since the passing of former owner Marge Schott last March. She was well known for her many great fan favorite St. Bernard dogs, the most famous being Schottzie. The Schottzie-Marge duo was a beloved aspect of the downtown parade and will be greatly missed.
Life goes on, however, and baseball does too, writing a new page in history this coming week on Opening Day. It’s more than just history though. The innocence and enthusiasm of baseball is reborn on this day, as families and friends come together to celebrate the beginning of the “boys of summer.” There’s sure nothing like going to a baseball game with your parents and siblings in the middle of the summer, where grown-ups can become kids again. Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn said it best that “when you win the first one, you can’t lose ‘em all,” and this is the exact kind of optimism that is universal at these wonderful Opening Day adventures.
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