Opening Days Over The Years…

I’m always excited about Opening Day. It’s like a holiday gift, the first tangible evidence that another long march to the World Series has begun. Who will win it all this season? What rookies will emerge? Who will have a breakout year? Which manager will be the first to be fired? Which ball players whose play has faltered over the past several seasons will reemerge as meaningful, contributing players? All of these are compelling questions that will begin to be answered now.

For a baseball history buff like me, this event has another side to it, that of Opening Days from the past. What memorable occurrenceshave taken place over the years? I decided to give it a look and thought I’d share some of them with you.

Cleveland Indians flame thrower Bob Feller, just 21 years old at the time, threw a no hitter on Opening Day, 1940. On a chilly Chicago afternoon in front of a mere 14, 000 fans, he held the White Sox hitless as the Indians pulled out a 1-0 squeeker. This has been the only no hitter thrown on Opening Day.  Here’s a moment from this event, captured by artist Grais Kreindler, in a painting on display at the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, Iowa.

Excellence on the pitching mound is celebrated by starting your best pitcher on Opening Day. The pitcher credited with the most Opening Day starts is Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. The well travelled right hander played for the Red Sox, White Sox, Red and Mets (two tours of duty). It will be a long time before major league baseball witnesses another pitcher good enough to start sixteen times on this important date. Sports Illustrated featured one of them on its cover. The date was April 5, 1983.

In the early twentieth century, Walter Johnson had the unfortunate luck to pitch for some truly horrible Washington Senators team. At some point he must have realized that if he was going to win a game he would have to shut out the opposing team. Of his fourteen Opening Day assignments, he shut the other team out seven times, a record that may never be equaled.

Hitters got into the record books for Opening Day exploits, too, but I’m only going to mention one of them. The “Splendid Splinter,” Ted Williams, was a combined .449 hitter for all of his Opening Day starts. I don’t think anyone is going to break that record, either. Here is Arthur K. Miller’s portrait of the man many baseball historians consider the best hitter ever.

The longest Major League Baseball game played on Opening Day took place on Thursday, April 5, 2012. In a sixteen-inning marathon battle the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Cleveland Indians by a score of 7 to 4. A total of fourteen pitchers plied their trade before 44,190 fans, who certainly got plenty of baseball for their money. I wonder if these Blue Jays players, shown here in a photo from the Montreal Gazette, knew it would take them over five hours to win the game.

I’ll close with a quotation from the “Yankee Clipper,” Joe DiMaggio, who once remarked that “you always get a special kick on Opening Day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.”

You’re right, Joe; something always does. Welcome to our next baseball season, everyone. Play Ball!

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