Opening day is here for major league baseball.  The Braves will play the Nationals tonight to christen the new Nationals Park, and President Bush will throw out the first pitch.  Game time is 8:05 PM EDT and will be televised by ESPN.

I'll be at the Braves home opener on Monday night.  It's invigorating to walk into the ballpark for the first time each year and take in the smells, sights, and sounds of a new season.  And, "people will come." 

Ray, people will come Ray. ...And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.

A few days ago, the Red Sox and A's split a two game series to open their seasons, but since they played in Tokyo, it shouldn't count.

Last night in an exhibition game, the Red Sox and Dodgers played at the L.A. Coliseum to a record crowd of 115,300 fans.  Creating a baseball field in a football stadium is difficult, and you know that the configuration is strange when the shortstop covers left field and center fielder Andruw Jones takes a throw at second base to tag out a stealing base runner.

The Library of Congress has a new section titled Historic Baseball Resources, with a lot of interesting information and images of the game.  It's hard to stop going through the site once you start. 

Feel free to comment on your teams and the season and to provide your favorite baseball stories and links.  Besides the above link to the Library of Congress, here's another one to start:  Fire Joe Morgan

Let's play ball.

Authored by Woody

Posted at 04:30 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 405 words, total size 3 kb.

1

I'm 65 and grew up in Northern NJ. My Dad, a long-time Yankee fan, took me into NY to see the Yankees and, just for the heck of it, the Giants and Dodgers. When I was a teenager, Yogi Berra moved in about six blocks away, and we used to bump into him at the local stores. Yogi is Yogi, and all the kids would follow him around, no matter who we rooted for. And we were all in love with Carmen, his wife.

Those were different days. I think the closest thing to it today is to attend a minor league game. Try it! 

Posted by: OldeForce at Monday, March 31 2008 10:52 PM (hcv93)

2

Oldeforce, I'm gettin' on in years like you.  My dad took me to a game at Ebbets Field in the summer of 57 when we got back from Germany. 

And you are correct, our local minor league team is a blast.

Posted by: GM Roper at Tuesday, April 01 2008 06:14 AM (S60yG)

3

I agree about the fun at minor league and college games.  They have really hokey contests between each half-inning and the kids love it...plus, it's cheap.  When we go out of town on vacation or want to take a break, we'll find the closest minor league game and attend it.  We've seen a lot of stars before they were famous.  The most fun game for an event that I saw was the "Flying Elvises" night in Columbus, Georgia. 

In fact, I saw a minor league team last night--the Atlanta Braves, whose fielding was worse than a high school team and whose batters showed that they can power the ball...three feet short of homeruns.  Of course, the Pirates weren't much better walking four consecutive batters and losing a five run lead in the ninth to force extra innings.

Posted by: Woody at Tuesday, April 01 2008 09:20 AM (Eb/8J)

4

"In fact, I saw a minor league team last night--the Atlanta Braves..."

Woodster, they'll get better, its the ONLY option

Posted by: GM Roper at Tuesday, April 01 2008 12:19 PM (1fjXG)

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