Opening Day

I'll be there today for the Indians' home opener at Progressive Field.

Opening Day is my thing.  I've seen a few.

Photo from April 6, 1993 front page of the Canton Repository.

This photo appeared on the front page of The Canton Repository on April 6, 1993 after an opener--the last opener in the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

And what a story it contains.

My friend Dave and I were late meeting up with our friends for the opener.  Neither of us had cell phones (who could afford one in 1993?) and being ten minutes late was enough for our buddies to sell off our tickets and go in to the stadium without us.

We walked the mile around the stadium a couple of times as the game started hoping to snag some cheap seats.  It didn't happen.

People were already leaving as the Tribe was down and the place was cold, as it always was in April.

With a woman watching both the media gate and another, we found a way to sneak in.  And did.

Can't say I'm proud of that, but years of going to games at Municipal Stadium for a horribly bad Indians' product partly justified it.  Or so I'll argue.

It gets better.

Dave and I got into the box seats right away and looked for the moment. 

We knew how to do this.  Years of going to games where there were more ushers and vendors than fans in the seats let us hone the skill of sneaking to the good seats.

We boldly went to the front row, right behind the visitor's dugout. 

The fans around us might have clued in the ushers but for the fact that they were compelled to think we were celebrities.  It wasn't long after snagging prime seats that we struck up a conversation with the photographer who had a familiar Obie the Tiger logo on his camera case.  Learning we were from his home county, he started taking photos.  Tons of them.

The next day came this souvenir.  Front page.