Thomas Boswell, the great retired baseball writer from the Washington Post, wrote a book titled “Why Time Begins on Opening Day.”
That was 1984. Well, Tommy ol’ buddy, it’s now 2024 and Opening Day doesn’t even begin on Opening Day anymore.
Did you realize that the first game on the ’24 Major League Baseball season came basically on the same day as the NCAA Tournament began?
Of course you didn’t, unless you happened to be chillin’ in Gocheok-dong, Seoul, South Korea this week.
That’s where “time” began this year. After winning the first game, Los Angeles sadly gave up a 15-spot to San Diego so those who thought the Dodgers were going to go 162-0 this season are out of luck. But the pennant race is on!
And with that, these two teams will take a week off to recover from the rigors of the day-to-day grind of what they have already endured this MLB season.
They’ll tell you that the idea of playing in a foreign country is to “grow the game.” How about this novel concept – let’s spend a little more time growing the game in this country first before we worry about whether there is unmined talent to be found in Mongolia.
By the way, they poured in 15,000 for each fever-pitched game in South Korea, which will probably be less than any other Opening Day in this country will draw. (Yes, the Marlins and Rays both had bigger opening game attendance numbers than that last year.)
Opening Day, both as an entity and a concept, is supposed to mean something. In 1983, the first game of the year was played on April 4. It was the same day as the finals of the NCAA Tournament. Masters Week was beginning. Now, we’ve got the Valspar Championship to look forward to.
Of course, all of this is not new. The NFL has been playing games in Europe and Mexico for quite a while. New Year’s Day games in college football aren’t even played on New Year’s Day. And baseball has done this cross-the-Pacific thing before.
But it’s one thing to do something different every now and then. Playing in the Field of Dreams “cornfield” (not actually, but the idea is the same) is actually pretty cool. And if you want to play a series during the summer in the Dominican Republic, no harm, no foul (ball).
Opening Day is supposed to be mean something more than hanging bunting around the stadium and some politician throwing out the first pitch. It supposed to mean that it’s time to strap in for the long haul of the baseball season. Winter is now showing up the rearview mirror.
Sacred may be a little strong of a term to describe Opening Day, but no other sport uses capital letters to describe its first game of the year.
Baseball has long since let many of its traditions go by the boards. Some thought the demise of civilization was going to be tied to the instillation of the designated hitter. The Chicago White Sox wore shorts in 1976 and democracy didn’t crumble.
But we’ve got to hang on to something, especially when it signifies more than just the start of baseball season. Whether you are a baseball fan or not, you’ve got to admit that when the season starts, your mood gets a little bit better. A little hop in your step.
Memo to Major League Baseball: We need that, and all Opening Day signifies. If you want to grow the game, grow it some other time.
Sports are made to follow some kind of sequence. The universe has a natural order that suggests there is an inherent balance and harmony.
The sports universe needs that too. But there is no inherent balance or harmony when Opening Day is played during the same week as the Valspar Championship.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com