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Cincinnati Reds: Should Opening Day Be an Official Holiday?

Although baseball’s opening day is special in every city, Cincinnati’s has long been considered the creme-de-la-creme. Professional baseball’s first team is the only team to open each year at home and its fans celebrate the entire day like no other.

Sports Illustrated’s Frank Deford once said,”… the citizens celebrate with the same display of annual ardor that lapsed Christians save for Easter.”  And USA Today chimed in with, “Cincinnati has traditionally been the showcase season opener … nothing else has the glitz of the Reds and opening day. It’s sacred.”

Cincinnatians have always considered Opening Day an unofficial holiday, and now a father and son want to take away the “un,” and make it official.

For 30 years, Cincinnati architect Mike Schuster has shut his company’s doors on opening day and gone to the game.  At first it was just him—now he takes his 40 employees along. And this year, Schuster had an idea—Why not “Make if Official?”

It’s a long-time tradition for Cincinnatians of all ages to call in sick or skip school and head downtown on Opening Day to watch the Findlay Market Parade wind its way through the downtown streets and see baseball’s first professional team open the season. Schuster’s plan is to have Opening Day made an official city holiday, and this year he, his son David and about two dozen staffers were outside Great American Ballpark on Opening Day, collecting signatures for a petition that they hope will accumulate 15,000 names.

And three Reds’ Hall of Famers think it is a great idea.

Said long-time Reds radio voice Marty Brennaman, “Opening Day in this town is the most wonderful day of the year.  “If they put it on the ballot to make Opening Day an official holiday in Cincinnati,” Brennaman added, “it’ll be a slam dunk.”

Joe Morgan, this year’s Grand Marshall of the 92nd Findlay Market Parade, added, “The first game of the season was always a holiday when we were winning,” he said with a laugh. “Might as well make it a real holiday.”

Or, in the words of the late Reds skipper Sparky Anderson, “It’s a holiday—a baseball holiday!  Ain’t no other place in America got that!”

Do the citizens of Cincinnati agree?  In a recent poll on Cincinnati.com, “Make if Official” carried over 85 percent of the vote.

It would seem that if the Schusters can get “Make It Official” on this fall’s ballot, then Opening Day in Cincinnati will become what Reds’ fans have known it as all along—an official holiday.

This article originally appeared in Tom Walsh’s blog at The Ultimate Sports List.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Sparky Anderson: A Brief Encounter that Left a Lasting Impression

Like many who grew up in Cincinnati during the Big Red Machine era, I am deeply saddened by the death of its pilot, Sparky Anderson.  He went from “Sparky Who” to one of the most beloved sports figures in Cincinnati history in nine short years, due not only to his success as a manager, but also to the fact that he was a genuinely nice guy.

On July 21, 1974, the Reds were returning from Chicago where they had defeated the Cubs 8-2 and cut the Dodgers’ lead to five and a half games in their final series before the All-Star break.  That afternoon, I went to the Cincinnati Airport with some friends and their parents to welcome the Reds back to town.

We arrived at the gate—back in the days that you could actually do that—to find that we weren’t the only people to have this great idea.  A crush of fans was waiting there as well.   Walking from the gate back to the baggage claim, I managed to get Reds broadcasters Joe Nuxhall and Waite Hoyt to sign the one piece of paper I brought.

At the baggage claim, I walked outside to see if I might find a player away from the crowds.  Finding none, I stood near the curb for a moment.  I must have looked pretty forlorn because I had only gotten autographs from a couple broadcasters and no players.

The back window of a limo rolled down and a white haired man popped his head out and said, “Come here, kid.”

It was Sparky.  He must have noticed the disappointed looking 13 year old standing by the curb. I handed him my piece of paper and he signed it.

He then looked at it closer and said, “Me, Hoyt and Nuxxy. Hang on to this, kid, it’ll be worth somethin’ someday.”  He was right.  Three Hall of Famers on one piece of paper. 

Thankfully, I did.

Tom Walsh is the Founder of The Ultimate Sports List at TUSL.com. This article was originally published on the blog at TUSL.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


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