Indeed, Time (or at least Spring) begins on Opening Day

Today is the day that a friend of mine, a non-baseball person, struggles with the most. Today is the official start of the 2011 baseball season. There are a half dozen games on tap across the land. People will smile a little more today. I can't tell you why for sure. It just is.

In theory, this should be no big deal. After all, the season lasts 162 games. What's one game against that backdrop? But what my friend doesn't realize is that Opening Day is like the bear waking up from his winter snooze to go outside his cave again. Even if we head to the ballpark in a parka, we know that we soon won't need them anymore. We know that everybody from the world champ Phillies to their obscure neighbors the Pirates start even today.

Opening Day is about hope more than anything else.

I only went to one OD at Tiger Stadium. In retrospect, it was a rather tame, unmemorable affair. The Yankees beat Detroit, 3-0. As was his wont, Mickey Lolich pitched the whole game but his teammates offered tepid support. I sat in the upper deck behind home plate and remember it was cold but sunny.

But, as often happens, there were some unusual happenings. Gary Sutherland, a foot soldier who managed to play a dozen years in the bigs despite hitting only .248, had four hits that afternoon. Roy White, who was a helluva good outfielder for years for the Yankees, was the dh for the first time in his career. (I looked it up. White played 1600+ games in his career and only DHed about 100 times.) It was also the last Opening Day for Detroit's peerless Al Kaline, a once great right fielder who was now a fulltime dh.

I don't remember many games I went to at Tiger Stadium when the locals lost but I will always remember that one.

Upon arriving here for college, I went to a couple of Opening Days at Met Stadium. On one of them, Nolan Ryan pitched for the Angels. There was snow stacked up outside the stadium and only 13,909 attended the game. Ryan threw rockets past most of the Twins on a day when it couldn't have been 45 degrees. I remember Glenn Borgmann, of all people, drilled a bases-loaded double off the center field fence. But that was it. Angels won (7-3, as I recall). We wore parkas but still had a blast of a good time. it was just fun to be outside after a long winter.

Opening Day IS a big deal. Indeed, The Voice Of The Turtle can be heard (or at least imagined) again. The sun will stay out a little longer. People will smile a little more than usual. I feel bad for folks who -- even the non-baseball fans -- who don't get this concept. I don't claim to understand all of the reasons why Opening Day is special. I simply know it is.