Bring on Opening Day!

Posted on April 4, 2010

General overall stadium view of Candlestick Park (home of the San Francisco Giants) in San Francisco, California on Opening Day, April 4, 1994. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

Spring training is over, 25 man rosters have been set and big league teams are flying all over the country to be in place for Opening Day tomorrow. I can’t wait! I recently returned from my best annual assignment of the year, photographing Cactus League games in Arizona for Sports Illustrated. I first shot spring training in 1991 when I was on staff at The National Sports Daily. What a great time I had heading down to Arizona for the first time in March 19 years ago to shoot baseball the Valley of the Sun. However, no matter how much fun it is to escape the rain in the Bay Area at the end of February and to see all my friends at dinner in Scottsdale it is always Opening Day that is the most anticipated day on the calendar.

After spending the month of March shooting games in the small ballparks in Arizona it is always exciting to head to the ballpark in San Francisco for Opening Day in early April. The A’s always open at night in Oakland, which I am not a big fan of. To me this national holiday is called Opening Day for a reason. It is meant to be played in the sunshine with the ballpark looking it’s best with fresh red white and blue bunting adorning the yard. Memories of John Tamargo’s 1979 heroics (see ticket stub below) and hopes of the upcoming season fill my brain as I get to the park early to reacquaint myself with my home away from home and greet old friends I have been away from during the cold and dark winter.

I attended my first Opening Day with my dad on April 10, 1979 and witnessed the above-mentioned John Tamargo game that is still talked about by hard core Giants fans. Tamargo was the Giants third-string catcher and a cult hero of mine who stepped up to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and crushed a two-run pinch-hit home run over the chain link fence in right field to beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 in front of 56,000 screaming fans. The game started out with Giants ace Vida Blue facing Padres ace Gaylord Perry on the mound.  It marked the first day that natural grass returned as the Giants playing surface at Candlestick Park after almost a decade of the worst artificial turf in professional sports. Seeing my favorite team play in my favorite ballpark on real grass for the first time in my young life was a site to behold and something I will never forget, but the day will always belong to Tamargo.

I will be glued to my television set tomorrow watching Opening Day ballgames from all over the baseball landscape, with special attention paid to the Giants and Astros game in Houston. My first regular season assignment here in the Bay Area will be Thursday afternoon’s game between the mariners and A’s in Oakland. But the biggest day of the week will be on Friday when the Giants kick off the 2010 home season when they welcome phenom Jason Heyward and the Atlanta Braves to town in a 1:35pm start. The sun will be shining bright (it always is on Opening Day) and my 10-year tradition of post-game cocktails, cigars and dinner with pal Eric Risberg (see below) will continue. I can’t wait!

Play ball!