Opening Day

I won't be attending opening day this year.  That's pretty normal.  It's usually mid-week during the day and getting off of work is just not something I could ever do for a baseball game.

But one year . . .

I got the tickets as a Christmas present from my wife.  We knew in advance that I would not be working that week so it was a real treat in terms of anticipation and in being a part of things.


It was April 6, 2012, at Camden Yards.  This opening day was exactly 20 years since the first opening day game at that ballpark.  As a result, in the hours leading up to the start of the game we could watch the original opening game on the jumbotron.


As usual, I got there early to watch the field prep and the crowd fill in.  I was in the nosebleed section on the first base side.  It was a shaded area which meant no sunscreen for me.  That's my normal strategy.

However, that was not a good plan for that day. The chilly wind blew strong where I was sitting. A few rows ahead of me, the sun was shining and people were coat-free.  My neighbors and I wore coats and shivered throughout the game.

So with spring in the air, I plan on doing some yard work this weekend.

But soon.  Oh, but soon.  Opening day will signal the beginning of summer and I'll be looking for excuses to head on down to the Yards for an afternoon or evening of Orioles magic.

'Tis the Season

Growing up, I lived about a 5 hour drive from the nearest MLB team's home stadium.  My brothers, both 10+ years older than me, lived in cities with teams and my sister lived about an hour away from one stadium.  I managed to get to a game or two or three each summer.

It was then that I decided that as an adult I wanted to live in a city with professional baseball available to me.  My first job out of grad school took me to Houston.  In the five years I lived there, I made it to exactly one game.

My next job took me to Baltimore.  I lived within walking distance of Camden Yards.  Though my odd work schedule made it difficult to get to games the first couple of years, I have since been spoiled by being able to decide on a nice evening to just walk down and enjoy a game.  I now live in a different neighborhood that's about four light rail stops from Oriole Park so I'm doubly spoiled.

My favorite place to sit for an Orioles game is Section 340.  Way up high where I can see everything with home plate practically between my feet.  I know it's the nosebleed section but the team plays just fine to the cheap seats in the back.

Still catching a game outside of Baltimore once in a while, I found the whole idea of things like driving and parking to be quite dreadful.  Spoiled.  I already admitted it.  I did catch the subway to DC once, but that was a few years back.

Last summer I realized that I had been living just 90 minutes from the stadium in Philadelphia for nearly two decades.  If I had moved this close to a stadium when I was younger, I would likely have attended several games each season without hesitation.  Now, I was spoiled by the Os at the Yards.

I decided to fight back and drive up to Philly one Saturday to catch the game.  That then turned into a trip to DC and a couple to NYC that summer.  (I had already been to a game in Kansas City earlier in the season.) All those stadiums were closer than the ones I attended as a kid.

And it was fun.

Really fun.

And I managed to behave myself and not yell out "O!" during the Star Spangled Banner as is custom in Baltimore.  We get away with it since the song was written here, I guess.

I still got my share of Os games, too, hon.

It's turned the off-season into my plotting and planning to get to games.  I thought this blog would be a good way for me to keep track of my summer adventures and to remember some old times along the way.

So with just over two weeks until opening day, all I can say is --

Play Ball!