The Old Ball Game
– by Betsy Ross
If you are new to the Greater Cincinnati area, or if you have a friend or co-worker who’s new to town, you probably have heard or said this phrase: “You have to go to Opening Day. Cincinnati does it better than any other baseball city.”
The sentence itself is true. But it hardly explains or demonstrates just what makes the first day of baseball season so special in the Queen City.
First, a history lesson: Veteran Reds fans will remember the days (and lament their passing) when the Reds were THE opening game of baseball season. Not because that the Reds were the first professional baseball team, as many believe, but mostly because of tradition, according to Reds historians Greg Rhodes and John Erardi. Before baseball expansion, Cincinnati was the southernmost city for baseball, so the belief was that the chances for better weather were greater.
Of course, we know that the weather forecast for Opening Day can be as unpredictable as an Aroldis Chapman fastball. It has snowed twice (measurable snow) on Opening Day, and as recently as 2018 the opener had to be postponed because of rain, the first time in more than a half century that Opening Day was delayed because of the threat of rain. Strikes, lockouts and, of course, the pandemic, were other factors that have altered the traditional first day of baseball.
But what makes Cincinnati’s Opening Day different from the other teams? Again, referencing Erardi and Rhodes in their terrific book, “Opening Day,” the Reds’ business manager at the turn of the 20th century, Frank Bancroft, gets the credit for turning the day into a holiday, complete with bunting around the stadium, first pitches from dignitaries and presentations on the field. The extra spectacle drew sellout crowds for Opening Day every year, so Cincinnati continued get a home game for its season opener.
It was around that time, in 1920, that Findlay Market got into the act with its Opening Day parade, which now is a 1.4 mile long celebration of Spring and baseball season. But it wasn’t always greeted with big crowds (an estimated 130,000 last year) and school children playing hooky.
From Rhodes: “With the Reds move downtown to Riverfront Stadium in 1970, the parade dynamics changed completely. Now, the line of march headed down Race Street and turned on Fifth and went right through the heart of downtown Cincinnati. Local television began covering the procession live for the first time. The parade became the focal point instead of the ballpark presentation.
“The parade organizers decided to open up the event to outside organizations and the entries grew to nearly 200. When Marge Schott purchased the Reds in the 1984, she used her connections with the Cincinnati Zoo to include elephants and other large animals that gave the entire event the feel of a circus.”
Once the parade is done, there’s still usually some time to fill before the start of the game—this year, a 4:10 p.m. matchup with Pittsburgh. Depending on the weather, fans can hang out at The Banks or inside their favorite watering hole while waiting for the ballpark festivities. Expect a sellout crowd to greet the Reds home and signal the start of Spring and baseball season.
As former Reds manager Sparky Anderson said,
“It’s a holiday—a baseball holiday! Ain’t no other place in America got that!”