Baseball Opening Day

at Great American Ballpark

Baseball Opening Day is huge in Cincinnati. You see, typically the Cincinnati Reds launch all the other opening days around the country. They've earned that right because Cincinnati sponsored the first franchise in 1869, some say. Others believe it's because Cincinnati is one of the warmer locations in April and therefore ideal weather for an opener. Whatever the reason, Opening Day in Cincinnati is, as former Reds Manager Sparky Anderson once said, "a holiday, a baseball holiday! Ain't no other place in America got that!"

Our family attended Opening Day at Great American Ballpark, the Cincinnati Reds stadium, in 2007. The opposing team was the Chicago Cubs. Game time for the 131st Reds Opening Day was 2:10 EST on Monday, April 2. Reds pitcher Aaron Harang went head to head with Cubs' pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

Our day began at Fountain Square. Loads of other Cincinnatians were there as well to view the 88th annual Findlay Market Parade that begins Opening Day festivities. The parade route stretches from Findlay Market to Fifth Street and Broadway where it ends. In 2007, Former Reds great Eric Davis was the Grand Marshall. Tom Browning and George Foster were on hand that day as well.

After the parade, we joined the throng heading to the ballpark. Baseball Opening Day in Cincinnati is almost always a sell out. Our tickets placed us about twenty rows perpendicular to the third base. One of the most hilarious moments in that opener was the now-legendary Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory first pitch fail. The Mayor describes it himself in the video below:

You can't spend a day at the ballpark without some major league food consumption. We ate lots of fabulous Cincy favorites The edible lineup at Great American ballpark included items from United Dairy Farmer (UDF), Larosa's, Servatii's, and Skyline Chili. The UDF "Mr. Redlegs" ice cream sundae was phenomenal. And, you can never go wrong with Skyline Chili chili cheese coneys!

The Reds beat the Cubbies in 2007 5 to 1. 42,720 were in attendance to cheer Adam Dunn's two homers. Watching Brandon Phillips (who won a Golden Glove Award in 2008) field amazingly, Ken Griffey Jr weild his big bat, and Josh Hamilton display his greatness using both the bat and glove was also pretty sweet. In fact, baseball Opening Day in Cincinnati was incredible. If you ever get the opportunity to experience Cincinnati's April baseball holiday, you won't regret it!

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SBI!