GOT MY FINGERS CROSSED!!!!

So, the season is upon us.  Don’t get me wrong….I’m not talking about Spring!!  I’m talking about Opening Day Week for the MLB and for our grandsons’ high school baseball team.

I made it to their first game, which was at home and sadly, they lost1-3.  Neither of my grandsons got to play in the game.  The week prior they were in Florida for their spring break, therefore were not in town for their practice sessions, which automatically means you don’t get to play.  On top of that, Teddy has a break in his hand which will keep him out for another couple of weeks (he managed to drop a couch on it!!!) 

Turning now to the Cincinnati Reds….it is so much fun being a fan of this team!!  For most of the 20^th century the Reds held a special tradition of playing the first game of the MLB season.  This is because they are the first professional baseball team in the country. 

Their history dates back to 1869 (just post Civil War, WOW!!)  At that time, they were the first professional team named the Cincinnati Red Stockings. 

The franchise was officially founded in 1881 as a charter member of the American Association.  In 1882 they played their first season winning the league championship.  In 1890 the club joined the National League and shortened its name to the Cincinnati Reds. 

So, in honor of its history, The Reds have played the first game of the season at home nearly every year since 1900.  There were 3 exceptions:  1966 Philadelphia, 1990 Houston and 2022 Atlanta. 

The strict tradition of the Reds being the sole opening game faded in recent years due to international openers and scheduling changes, something that infuriated Marge Schott (owner at the time),

Whether we still hold that honor is almost a moot point, since no other team does Opening Day like Cincinnati!!!  It is a full day affair with TV coverage beginning early in the day, a huge parade at Noon, game time at 4:00 pm and hundreds, of thousands of fans flooding downtown.  There have been numerous attempts to make Opening Day an “official Cincinnati holiday”, meaning no school and folks off from work.  So far that hasn’t happened.   

Some of my earliest memories are all about baseball.  One of my favorites is how, after we moved to Florida in 1957, Dad used to listen to WLW radio for Reds games.  It was tough, given than WLW was almost 1000 miles away, back in Cincinnati.  Reception wasn’t very good at all, but Dad hung in there until the Tampa Rays came along.  But he still followed the Reds and always saw a game when he came to town for a visit.  

  

So, this past Thursday was Opening Day.  As usual there was nothing else on TV.  Unfortunately they played the Boston White Sox and lost that game, but won the series taking it 2 games won, 1 game lost. I have all the games on my phone calendar and we have subscribed to Reds-TV on MLB so we can watch all the games.  Got my fingers crossed it will be a winning season.