Upon Further Review: ‘Opening Night’ has no tradition
Whatever happened to the tradition of Opening Day?
For several years now, Major League Baseball has had two dates to kick off baseball season. Sunday night and Monday are now the official “days” baseball players and fans set out on a summer quest for the run in October.
Last year Opening Day was actually six days before everyone hit the field. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig let America’s pastime go overseas as the Yankees and Devil Rays played in Tokyo for the first official game of the season.
ESPN is the main reason baseball now starts on Sunday night. MLB has been worrying for years about how to get more fans interested in baseball, and ESPN has helped with its coverage three nights a week.
If you look at it from a realistic standpoint, we still have Opening Day, they’ve just added an opening night. But officially, Major League Baseball is still referring to Monday as Opening Day.
But think about this. There are 10 games that were played on Monday and the rest of the league will play on Tuesday, so where did the actual Opening Day go?
Opening Day should be a time when dad’s call in sick for work and their sons play hooky from school to attend the game.
Men and women, boys and girls, people of all ages should go to Opening Day with a glove in one hand and a ball in the other. Showing up early to get an autograph from some kid who is half your age — or some old-timer who has given you many years of memories, maybe catching a foul ball during batting practice, or skipping work just to say you were there when the new rookie played his first major league game are the kinds of experiences you treasure for years.
Opening Day isn’t just about the beginning of baseball, it should be a state of mind all Americans should experience. Being at the park should make you feel as if you have no concept of what’s going on in the real world.
Major League Baseball has done everything possible for us to enjoy the game of baseball. Games are on TV almost every night thanks to Ted Turner and his quest to make the Atlanta Braves America’s team.
They have tried to make the new stadiums smaller to increase the number of home runs. The balls are made with a little more pop in them. The strike zone has been made so small, a marksman would even have a tough time hitting the target. And it’s all been done to increase the home run production to bring in more fans.
Yes, we all like the long ball and MLB apparently has stats showing more people come to the games when they know there’s a good chance of seeing one hit over the fence.
And if that wasn’t enough, MLB figured steroids would help with the home runs. It’s pretty obvious, because they have such a shady testing program. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger could pass Major League Baseball’s drug test.
But back to the main point. Baseball is America’s favorite pastime, and all teams should start the season on the same day, in America. Not overseas in Japan or south of the border.
There should be one Opening Day, and that’s right, it should take place during the day.
To borrow from a famous commercial…
Road trip to Atlanta: $75, two tickets down the left-field foul line: $60, hot-dogs, popcorn, peanuts and a coke: $50. Calling in sick for work and pulling your kid out of school to attend Opening Day: priceless.
Let’s get back to the old traditions.