Here Comes the Sun

The Beatles famously sang, “Here comes the sun, It’s alright, Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter,…it feels like years since it’s been here.”  January and February are the darkest, coldest months of the year. But, we always hold out hope for March. The clocks get turned ahead the first weekend of the month, and we get that extra daylight at the end of the day. Spring looms only three weeks ahead. We know it’s slowly going to get warmer. But, March can be cruel. Just when you think we are out of the clutches of winter, we get slammed with four nor’easters. The promise of the smiles of spring turn to the grimaces of ice and snow for one last jolt. The temperatures for almost every day this March have been below average. This followed a February when it rained more than half of the days. While the first day of spring was a week ago, the real first day of spring is March 29th.

Major League Baseball’s opening day is this Thursday, the 29th, and it’s different from every other opening day in history. It’s the earliest opening day ever. Every team will play their opener on that day. That hasn’t happened in 50 years. The last time was the 1968 season, when the whole country changed. Just days before opening day, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4th. Major League baseball delayed opening day for every team until April 10th. The most historic opening day happened on April 15, 1947 when Jackie Robinson become the first African American to break baseball’s color barrier. The one other opening day that stands out for me was April 12, 1966. A man who worked for my father was a personal friend of Mickey Mantle’s. He got me on the field in Yankee Stadium for batting practice, and I got to meet my baseball hero. I have a picture to prove it. But, it was the beginning of the end for Mantle’s career, and the years of dominance for the Yankees. They finished last in the American League, 26 1/2 games out of first place. I guess they could say it started with that kid on the field opening day.

Did you notice something about those opening days of years gone by? They all happened in April, even mid-April. Things started to change in 1969. The two leagues split into two divisions, and there were five game league championship series added before the World Series. As years went by, wildcard teams were added, which created divisional playoffs. Back in 1961, when the American League expanded, the regular season was lengthened from 154 games to 162. The National League would expend in 1962. But, even with the expanded schedule, the 1961 World Series started on October 4th. This year’s World Series will start October 23rd. With more teams and more games, we get to see early season games in places like Chicago, Philadelphia, New York on nights when  temperatures can drop below 40 degrees. If teams make it to the World Series, they can enjoy the same weather in late October. At least the players are moving around and can warm up in the clubhouse between innings. The fans get to enjoy the game in their parkas and blankets.

Millions of us love baseball. It starts when you’re a little kid playing it, watching it, collecting autographs, and baseball cards. You remember the first time you went to a game. Years ago, watching on black and white TVs, you didn’t realize how green the grass is, and how blue the sky until you walk out into the stands from the dark concourse. Baseball and weather go together like no other sport. The start of the season brings hope for your team and thoughts of warm sunshine. The late baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti put it this way, “It breaks your heart. It is designed to break you heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.” The fall and fate of our teams are six months away. Now we just want the sun to come, and everything will be all right.