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Wake up baseball fans, it's Opening Day 2023!!!

It's a special day. The Boys of Summer are back. Spring is in the air. The grass is green. Stadiums are packed. Cue the National Anthem. 

It's an opportunity to fall back in love with Baseball. Every team starts with high expectations as every team is tied for first place. It's also a time to sit back and listen to the famous Field of Dreams monologue by the great James Earl Jones.

 Ray, people will come, Ray.

They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past.

“Of course, we won’t mind if you look around,” you’ll say. “It’s only twenty dollars per person.” They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack.

And they’ll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game, and it’ll be as if they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.

People will come, Ray.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.

America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.

This field, this game — it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.

Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.

I can't recall my first opening day but I surely skipped school (Mom said I had a stomach ache) along with my best buddy Greg Soehner to take the 7Monroe bus down to Norton Street to cheer on my Rochester Red Wings. I didn't grow up in a major league city but Rochester was the next best city to enjoy our national pastime. Red Wing Stadium later Silver Stadium was an old time baseball facility with a capacity of just over 11,000 offering close to the action and not a bad seat in the house. Concession stands featured Tobin First Prize White hots and I can admit never passing up the opportunity to indulge. Never remember how man times the home team opened with a win but what mattered most was being in the crowd and celebrating Opening Day.

I've had a couple of opportunities to be present for Arizona Diamondback opening days. Always exciting to take in the opening ceremonies and feel the anxiousness of the rookies who are making their major league debut. It always bring me back to my youth, skipping school and attending the inaugural game of a new season. I've have had a true lifetime of celebrating Baseball on its Opening Day..

It's now time to say: Play Ball