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“Memorable Opening Days” Photo Gallery
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We made it!! Happy Opening Day!!

“You always get a special kick on Opening Day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid.” –Joe DiMaggio

For old-time baseball fans like us, if there’s a better day of the year than Opening Day, I’m not sure what it is! 

(In the featured photo above, we see a scene from Opening Day at Comiskey Park, 1981))

Just to put you in the right frame of mind on this wonderful day, here’s a few words about Opening Day I found on Wikipedia. I think we can all agree with the sentiment:

“For baseball fans, Opening Day serves as a symbol of rebirth. Writer Thomas Boswell once penned a book titled, “Why Time Begins on Opening Day.” Many feel that the occasion represents a newness or a chance to forget last season, in that all 30 of the major league clubs and their millions of fans begin with 0–0 records.”

And here’s an Opening Day essay sent by contributor George Curcio. I think George captures the sentiment many of  us felt in our youth on this special day: 

Reflections on Opening Day

by

George Curcio

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” ~ Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby exactly captured the essence of Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, at least as it was to an 8-year-old boy in 1968. It was only three-tenths of a mile from school to home, but it seemed like three miles.   At the time, it seemed like an Olympian feat as I ran the entire distance, anxious to turn on the television to see how my New York Yankees would start the season.

As he would be for seven of the Yankees’ Opening Days, Mel Stottlemyre was on the mound.  His opponent was George Brunet, a crafty lefthander who had the misfortune of pitching mostly for lower-division teams. Stottlemyre went the full nine innings and did not allow a run.  Brunet was almost as good, going seven innings and allowing only one run.

The Yankees won the game 1-0, the difference being a second-inning home run by Frank Fernandez, a right-handed hitter in the lineup solely because Brunet was a southpaw.  Jake Gibbs, the Yankees’ lead catcher, was a left-handed bat and therefore sat out the game. Fernandez’s home run was one of only three Yankees hits that day.  The other two, appropriately, were singles by Mickey Mantle, who enjoyed a grand start to his final Major-league season.

Sadly, I do not remember if I had arrived home in time to see Fernandez’s homer.  But I know I ran, because it was a yearly ritual for me.  It was when Opening Day games were played in the daytime. As I find myself at age 64, I also find myself becoming more sentimental about day games, and other things remembered from my childhood that are no longer true.

Foremost among those memories is Opening Day being the province of the Cincinnati Reds.  Tradition dictated the Reds always played at home on Opening Day.  This was due to their location as the southernmost team in the early National League, allowing other teams with colder climates to avoid playing at home in the early spring.

It was much different then than it is today.  Now, baseball is trying to establish itself as an international sport.  As a result, this year most teams will still have a week to go in their Spring training seasons while the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres play a two-game series in South Korea March 20-21.

The same has been true in most recent seasons.  Two teams are chosen to play Opening Day sometimes a week before every other team starting their season.  Another major difference is the availability of all games being viewed on demand via the internet.

Whereas at one time, a decision to get up in the middle of the night to watch an international opener had to be made, there is no such quandary.  The game can be watched at the viewer’s leisure by demand online.

Along with the quote from Rogers Hornsby, there’s also this quote from Hall of Famer Early Wynn:

“An opener is not like any other game. There’s that little extra excitement, a faster beating of the heart. You have that anxiety to get off to a good start, for yourself and for the team. You know that when you win the first one, you can’t lose ’em all.”

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/opening_day/opening_day.shtml)

Wynn captured the excitement of an Opening Day fan.  Mel Stottlemyre’s Opening Day shutout victory signaled good things for the Yankees that season.  Of course, there was disappointment to come that season, but so what?  The Yankees were in first place on Opening Day.

George Curcio

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