I don’t know how you say “Play Ball!” in Japanese, but I guess until I heard it shouted last night down at Nationals Park in DC, I found it hard to imagine that the season was really on.  Over the years I’ve seen countless opening days, both for the season and for individual teams at their home openers.   I’ve been there to root for the Mets, the Phillies, the Red Sox, and even to root against the Yankees back in the day. No matter which ballpark I’ve started a season in, or which teams I’ve watched on television, it’s always been special. 

Yes, I’m one of those fans who measures the year not by calendar days but by opening days.   Last night was my New Year’s Day - and it’s the same for many people around the country.  Opening day is the defining moment of Spring.   

The grass is green, the weather is at least relatively warm and the promise of summer wafts through the air.  Well maybe that’s not summer I smell, but the scent of backyard barbecues being fired up and hot dogs being put on the grill as we listen to the ball game on the radio. 

That’s a tradition we share with our parents and grandparents.  Long before HD TV, or even regular television, there was baseball on the radio.  And while that technology has changed and radios no longer call for tubes or transistors, we still spend a lot of time listening to the sounds of the game even if we can’t see them.  It doesn’t matter if it comes through the computer, from a satellite, personal stereo, or the old boom box that accompanies us to the beach or backyard.  Baseball still translates well to radio when we can’t watch it. 

But watching it, or better yet being there, is what fans have spent the winter longing to do.  Sure we had other baseball, the Arizona Fall League, the Caribbean World Series, and even Spring Training, but none of them compare with the thrill of the opening season in Major League ball.   Maybe that’s because of the history that baseball has, because of legendary playoff races, larger than life players, and teams whose fans can trace themselves back for decades. 

Baseball has been entwined in our lives from pretty much the day we were born. Even if you aren’t a fan, there is no way to avoid it.  Just look at the advertising around you right now. Baseball is rife, from the Bank of America lobby here in New York, to tin signs in bars telling you that Babe Ruth liked brand x of soda, to commercials on television celebrating the opening of the new season.   

With it comes 2,427 more games (since two were already played in Japan and one played last night), the promise of hotly contested division races, pitching duels, slugfests, drama and the chance to watch some old favorites chase some milestones, to watch history in the making. 

It’s that combination of things that bring us back to baseball with an almost religious fervor.  You don’t have to be a rabid fan, or a fantasy player to enjoy a game on a given day.  Baseball to some is a ritual of Spring, to others a unquenchable passion, and to others a chance to bond with others by taking even a small part of enjoying America’s pastime.  

So put on your favorite team cap and smile.  Baseball is back let’s enjoy it.

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