Take Me Out to the Ball Game

 

It’s the one indicator for all baseball fanatics that spring is just around the corner – when Major League Baseball announces its Opening Day – or Golden Day if you like!

 

How did we survive winter? We’ve got almost two thousand, five hundred magical games to look forward to! And it’s all starting on Thursday, March 31 – the first six regular season games! Get your tickets because the grounds crews are working twenty-five hours a day to get the ballparks ready, the vendors are perfecting their hot-dog pitches and training for the thousands of steps they’ll run and the beer boys are at the top of their form! So dig out the Team baseball jersey, find your ball cap and let’s get practising on booing and yelling because at last, we’re going on that wonderful, exciting and unforgettable journey to yet another World Series.

 

And hey, there’s an Eastern Time start at Yankee Stadium and Nationals Park; just after 1-00pm! Which means that either left-handed C C Sabathia, that terrifying mountain of starter pitcher for the New York Yankees OR  Livan Hernandez of the Washington Nationals could be throwing the first genuine pitch since Brian Wilson, relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants slung the last one against Nelson Cruz in last year’s Fall Classic.

 

And on Opening Day, Brian Wilson and the San Francisco Giants will be at Dodger Stadium to face their adversaries and it’ll be broadcast on ESPN, starting at 8-00pm Eastern time! A week later, Carl Crawford, left fielder for the Boston Red Sox will guard the Green Monster, that thirty-seven foot Toncan iron wall at Fenway Park - and who signed a seven-year 2 million contract with them, just days after Adrian Gonzalez was traded to the Red Sox. Let’s hope that Gonzales’ injured shoulder won’t be an issue this year – he took batting practice with the Red Sox on Sunday and it seems all is well so far. He’ll be at first base for the Sox against the New York Yankees on April 8.

 

And at the same time, the Detroit Tigers plan to honour their manager, Sparky Anderson, who died last November. They will raise a Number 11 flag at Comerica Park in Detroit before they start their home opener against the Kansas City Royals at 3-05 pm.

 

On April 30, just after 4-00pm Eastern, the Texas Rangers, last year’s American League champions will go up against the Oakland A’s who are ready to roar after their spring training at Phoenix. Legendary Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, the Man of Steal will throw the  ceremonial pitch and some lucky fans will be able to get their hands on the first-ever Rickey Henderson bobble-head on that day, courtesy of the A’s who gave Rickey his start way back in 1979.

 

The Baltimore Orioles are planning a regular-season finale against Boston at Camden Yards at 7-05 pm on September 28. Will manager Buck Showalter’s 2010 magic touch still be around for a post-season send-off – imagine that!

 

Major League Baseball’s Opening Days have traditionally been held on a Sunday. This year, it’s landed on a Thursday – last time that happened was in 1976 when Opening Day was Thursday, April 8. Previous Thursday openers were 1901 – 1904, 1907, 1912, 1959 and 1973 – 1974.  And the last day of the 2011 regular season will be on Wednesday, September 28 which means that most of the final scheduled games will be played at night, instead of on Sunday afternoons! The last baseball regular-game season to end that early was in 2003, Sunday, September 28 and in 1990, it ended on Wednesday, October 3.

 

Do you recall – the Cincinnati Reds led their division on that date; in fact, they’d led every day during the regular season and they hurtled right through to the World Series! Will first baseman Joey Votto, 2010’s MVP and starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo go for another World Series – it would be the first one for the Reds since 1990? But first, there’s their spring training at Goodyear Ballpark, near Phoenix, then the customary Finley Market Parade in Cincinnati – and then the home opener at 2-10pm at Great American Ballpark where they’ll meet up with the new and improved Milwaukee Brewers! There’s a lot of new faces in that lineup this season – new manager Ron Roenicke, third-base coach Ed Sedar, hitting coach Dale Sveum and Stan Kyles in the bullpen. And it’s been heard here and there that this season will field the all time best Brewers lineup, with starting pitcher Zack Greinke (will he win the Cy Young Award) and the “Hebrew Hammer” Ryan Braun in left field.

 

This Opening Day will see the twenty-second season for ESPN showing MLB games. Dan Shulman will call the Giants-Dodgers game together with Orel Hershiser and of course, Bobby Valentine. It’s also available through ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile TV.  And here’s a little bit of history - this will be the twenty-eighth time that these two lauded teams have met up for Opening Day since 1900. Thus far, the Giants hold the lead at 15 – 13 but that can change! The last time they met on Opening Day was in 2008, when the Dodgers marmalized the Giants five to zero at Dodger Stadium.

 

ESPN’s triple-header on Opening Day will bring us the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees at 1.05pm and then the Padres against the Cardinals at 4.0pm. Others will showcase the Atlanta Braves at the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Angels at the Kansas City royals. Next day, eleven games are scheduled which includes the start of nine new series. Fifteen games are on the slate for April 2.

 

Interleague Play gets going on Friday, May 20 and we’re going to see some old rivalries being resurrected! Then, the Chicago Cubs at the Red Sox at 7.10pm Eastern – t his one is going to be an Occasion because it marks the first regular-season game ever between these two clubs at Fenway Park – a renewal of the 1918 World Series – should be something!

 

The Mariners and Marlins Interleague series is from June 24 – 26. It was scheduled to be played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami but Bono, U2 and Edge couldn’t make it, so it was switched to Seattle’s Safeco Field. The three-game series will be played with the Marlins as the home team, under National League rules and batting last.

 

And April 15 will be the day when Major League Baseball commemorates and honours the great Jackie Robinson, who broke the colour bar on that date in 1947, becoming the first African-American to play professional baseball in the major leagues, with his Brooklyn Dodgers teammates. How many players, managers and coaches will wear Number 42 in his memory this year? Bud Selig, MLB’s Commissioner of Baseball says that “baseball’s most powerful moment in its terrific history was Jackie Robinson’s coming into the game.”

 

That night, the Dodgers will meet the Cardinals at 10.10pm Eastern and in May, we’ll see the fifth Annual Civil Rights Game, where the Atlanta Braves will meet the Phillies on home turf at 1.35pm Eastern.

 

And finally, the eighty-second All-Star Game will be played at Chase Field in Phoenix on July 12, hosted by the Diamondbacks. You can add your name to the register for an opportunity to get tickets to the All-Star Week events! Look out for the little green “T” boxes alongside each home date on MLB.com and Club schedule pages – click them to be whisked to that game’s ticket order page!

 

In 1908, Jack Norworth wrote his beloved (and sacred) baseball hymn during a train ride in downtown Manhattan. Albert von Tilzer put it to music and it became an immediate hit which, to this day, is belted out by wildly cheering fans during the seventh inning of pretty well every baseball game across the United States! Everyone knows it, even non-baseballites and in 1940, on the fiftieth anniversary of the song, Jack Norworth was presented with a gold lifetime pass to Major League baseball games!

 

I wonder what Jack would say, if he could be here for this year’s Opening Day and witness his most celebrated composition being roared out by the thousands of baseball fans around every baseball diamond in the United States today.