Why Opening Day and Baseball is Special

A reader emailed me, LindyW., and said she watched Baseball every now and then but had no clue on just how special it was in Cincinnati. She the asked "Why Baseball is so special to me". I would have to say all the fantastic memories that Baseball reminds me of as a child.


It reminds me growing up and playing Wiffle Ball from morning to dark, breaking for a quick trot home for a Bologna Sandwich and a bottle of Coke. All of the group of kids sitting around trying to figure out how to calculate our batting averages or who has the most home runs so far for the summer. If a house in the neighborhood became vacant that backyard instantly became our new playing field. It was the memory of lower Rockford Drive taking on all the other parts of the neighborhood, and winning! The thrill of a new bat, glove or ball. It takes me back to the endless Summer hours out at Grandparents Farm and hitting a ball up against a huge barn. If the ball would land on certain parts of the roof it was a single, double, triple, or home run. I miss my Grandparents so much to this day still.

Riverfront Stadium

It was the thrill of opening a pack of Baseball Cards looking for that Pete Rose or Johnny Bench card..Back then I could name every player on the Reds team and their roster on the Indianapolis Indians farm Club. Later it was playing in the Hamilton  Westside Little League for the Woolworth Orioles. And that very first time I got to bat, got hit by the pitch in the left shoulder by a slow curve! It brings back those days of walking to school, and it's opening day mind you, and deciding I was getting sick so I had to back home and to watch the game. I don't think my Mom really ever believed me on that one. Later in life work never bought that excuse either! As I got older and worked part time during the Summer myself and my best High School friend, Dave, would spend any money we made going to Riverfront Stadium and watching perhaps Baseball' greatest team The Cincinnati Reds, "The Big Red Machine". We would park in this ally about 5 blocks from the stadium for free. Then wait till the game would just start and buy our tickets from ticket scalpers, who were desperate to get rid of tickets because the game started. My buddy Dave now lives in Arizona now but we talk on the phone all the time talking Red's Baseball, Ohio State Football or Cincinnati Bengal Football.

It's the sights and sounds, the people, and just the game of Baseball that floods me with nothing but good memories. That's why Opening Day is so special. Enjoy the game everyone!