It may be late March, but make no mistake, Baseball is in the air.
Tomorrow, all 30 MLB teams officially begin the 2023 Baseball Season.
The Reds open up at Great American Ball Park tomorrow March 30 at 4:10 vs the Pirates on the Reds 147TH Opening Day. Always remember in Cincinnati, Opening Day has been and always will be, a Holiday.
Since it’s a Holiday, let’s have a Parade.
Indeed we will.
Opening Day festivities will begin with the annual Findlay Market Parade at 12 Noon. This year’s Parade will feature two Grand Marshals, former Reds Bronson Arroyo and Danny Graves.
Last year’s 2022 Parade drew an estimated 130,000. If you’re planning on attending this year, make your plans now.
Former Red, Todd Frazier has the honor to throw out the First Pitch and Hunter Greene will be the Reds starting Pitcher.
Let’s take a look at Thursday’s Opening Day weather: Cloudy, slight chance of rain, 25% with high of 60. Sounds like a great day for Baseball.
Each year about this time, I have fond memories of the yesteryears of Baseball. I was like every kid in America back in the 1940’s during the frozen month of February waiting for Baseball to begin. The dismal cold of snow and ice couldn’t be gone soon enough.
Today, with the new season, every major league team has wall to wall radio and television coverage home and away to keep us company and the ability to follow our favorite teams.
However, for the most part, it was radio that kept us informed back in 1949. For me it was the Reds Waite Hoyt. It was like being at the game. My memories even go back to taking the Ashland YMCA-C&O Railway excursion to Cincinnati with my Dad that year of 1949 when I was 11. Crossing the train bridge from Covington into Union Terminal was breathtaking for a kid who had never seen so many tall buildings that was the Cincinnati skyline.
Once we were off the train, there was about a one mile exciting walk through the neighborhoods of West Cincinnati to historic Crosley Field. As we got closer to Crosley, I could hear the fans, the organ, the PA and even smell the Hot Dogs. As we entered, then I saw it. The GREENEST GRASS I had ever seen in my life. At first, it didn’t look real, but wow was it ever.
Once we found our seats, I looked for “BURGERVILLE.” That would be the area behind the high left field wall on Western Avenue that Reds’ announcer Waite Hoyt described for any Homer the Reds hit out of Crosley.
Then I looked for the famous “Terrace” out in right center field. It was a huge elevation of landscape that the outfielders had to navigate upward to field any ball that was hit in that area. It was not easy to do.
Another famous Crosley landmark was the famous “MOON DECK/SUN DECK in right field. As I gazed at the right field bleachers I thought, this is where “BIG KLU’S” homers land all the time. Ted Kluzewski was the Reds young first baseman only in his 2nd season. I was amazed at his huge arms and no sleeves on his uniform. After a slow start in his fine career, Klu slammed 40 Homers in 1953 and 49 in 1954. So many times his slammed homers cleared the stadium completely.
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and Crosley Field which held 30,000 fans, was filling up quickly for the doubleheader which meant we would see two games.
It was the most people I had ever seen in one place in my life. It was like the entire city of Ashland, Kentucky was at the game.
Things really got exciting when the PA Announcer Harry Hartman gave the starting lineups that Sunday afternoon in 1949.
Back home at Bill Weidekamp’s barber shop, they always had the Reds games on radio and now at last, I was seeing those very same Reds on the field:
• # 29 LEFT FIELD, WALLY POST
• #12 THIRD BASE, BOBBY ADAMS
• #20 CENTER FIELD, LLOYD MERRIMAN
• # 7 CATCHER, WALKER COOPER
• #15 2nd BASE, GRADY HATTON
• #18 FIRST BASE, TED KLUZEWSKI
• #22 RIGHT FIELD, JOHNNY WYROSTEK
• #14 SHORTSTOP, CLAUDE CORBITT
• # 36 PITCHING, KENNY RAFFENBURGER
By the way, the Reds lost two that day. Sadly, the ’49 Reds finished 62-92 in 7th place. Yeah, it was disappointing, but for me, I was in Baseball heaven that Sunday. I have never forgotten it.
Reds history wasn’t always like 1949 or 2022. For instance, there was and will always be, the BIG RED MACHINE and the Reds winning 1975 World Series Championship.
It may have been 48 seasons ago, but, that was the year I listened to every game I could announced by my friend and Hall of Famer, Marty Brennaman. In fact, my memories of that season are intact today with a LP Vinyl disc that covered it all, all called by Marty.
Earlier this year, I met with Marty at our SuperJox Luncheon and he finally to sign that vintage LP. It took 48 years, but today, it’s one of my greatest Reds treasures.
The Reds’ rich history includes the mid 60’s when the Reds created a Reds “Barnstorming Basketball Team” that toured Reds country and played the Media in local charity games.
In 1966 the Reds played at Rock Hill, Ohio. I was on that team that battled the Reds that Saturday night. The Reds had two very young legends to be on that team, 24-year-old Pete Rose played quite a game along with a very young Frank Robinson.
In 1972, the Red’s Bobby Tolan was injured in a charity game and was out for quite awhile. The Reds later banned the Reds from playing the winter games after Tolan’s injury and that was the end of Reds Basketball. However, the fans loved seeing the Reds over the winter months and I really think the Reds did as well. But, now it’s just yesteryear memories. So, out of the past, into the 21st Century, its 2023.
Cincinnati has some magic in the air today because every year about this time, the past is past, and Reds Opening Day is like a beautiful sunny morning. Every team in America is 0-0 and its time to get excited about the new 2023 season!
Tomorrow afternoon, it’s all about NOW.
It’s a good bet that Great American Ballpark will have 40,000+ all hoping for that first win. Baseball always has had a certain “magic” about it all. I know, because I called Play by Play in the Minors of MLB for Chicago. This is where I saw the incredible happen on the field, I spent the magic moments in the locker rooms, and rode the team bus for many hours all over the Appalachian League.
Tomorrow, when the Reds meet the Pirates at 4:10, GABP will be loud and rowdy.
Both teams are very hungry for win #1.
So, the Cincinnati Holiday begins tomorrow at 12 Noon with the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade. Then the First Pitch at 4:10 at GABP with the Reds and Pirates.
That’s when the Big Guy behind the plate yells, “PLAY BALL!”
Y’all ready?? Ready or not, here comes REDS BASEBALL.
Mike Tussey has “retired” from a 60-plus-year career as a legendary play-by-play announcer for over 2000 football, baseball, and basketball games, including most recently for ESPN+. His career also includes a stint in law enforcement, teaching and coaching, and writing books, including the “Touchdown Saints.” He grew up in Eastern Kentucky and now lives in Florence with his wife, Jo. He has opened another “Door of Opportunity” and is now a regular columnist for the NKyTribune.
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