Opening Days Are All Special, but the First Is Frightening

Opening day is the first page of a new book. If you’re a baseball fan, you’re reading the book. If you’re a player, you’re writing it.

It’s a page that tends to stick in your memory.

“I remember the opener in ‘78, in Milwaukee,” said Angel third baseman Doug DeCinces before Tuesday’s opener at Anaheim Stadium. DeCinces played for the Baltimore Orioles then. “They tried Eddie Murray at third base and me at second. We lost three straight by a combined score of 46-4, I think it was.

“The first day, Murray took a Gorman Thomas shot off his shin, and it drew blood. Milwaukee hit a grand slam that day. Earl (Weaver, Oriole manager) was so upset, he was screaming at everyone--the umpires, us, everyone.

“It was cold and we had one of those blower heaters in the dugout. Earl stood next to it and his socks caught on fire. The stirrups just started smoking and crinkling up. He was so mad he didn’t even realize he was on fire.”

Fear is the emotion mentioned most often by players recalling their first major league opening days.

“I was scared,” said Ken Brett, former pitcher and now the Angels’ radio color commentator. “I had already pitched in a World Series (for the Red Sox), but ’69 was my first opening day.

“It was at Fenway. I was the long man in the bullpen. I felt out of place. Deep down, I knew I wasn’t ready to pitch in the bigs. Later on, though, opening day was always very exciting.

“I pitched two openers. With the White Sox in ‘77, we played the first game ever in Toronto. We played in a snowstorm, because they had 45,000 people there and they didn’t want to tick ‘em off. It was about 30 degrees.

“The whole field was white except for the sliding areas. The mound was slippery. I gave up four homers, including two to the great Doug Ault. I got taken out of the game, went back to the clubhouse, and there was no hot water in the showers. By then I was really mad, so I caught a cab back to the hotel. I got there by the fifth inning and took a shower.”

Jimmie Reese, now the Angels’ conditioning coach, broke into the big leagues with the Yankees in 1930.

The Yankees opened at home, and it was Reese’s first major league game and his first look at Yankee Stadium.

“I was overwhelmed,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. I had been in the minors all my life, and this was the ultimate. It was a new world, a world I couldn’t even imagine.

“I was scared to death, it’s just as well I didn’t play that day. I was in a daze, or a haze.”

What impression stands out most in his mind about the day?

“The hugeness of the Stadium,” he said. “And Babe (Ruth) walking up to the plate.”

Don Sutton remembers pitching the ’77 opener for the Dodgers. The first ball used in that game was a special commemorative one marking the start of major league baseball’s second century. After Sutton’s first pitch, it was to have been taken out of play and shipped to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Gary Thomasson hit Sutton’s first pitch into the bleachers.

John Candelaria remembers his first opening day. He was with the Pittsburgh Pirates, playing in Philadelphia.

“Someone in the stands had a heart attack and Doc Medich administered CPR,” he said.

Gary Pettis’ first opening day was 1983. He was in center field at Anaheim Stadium against the Red Sox. Pettis was nervous, and mad at himself for feeling that way.

“I had butterflies, and it surprised me,” he said. “I figured I could handle anything. I thought I had overcome all the emotional highs, learned to control ‘em.

“I always knew I wanted to play in the big leagues and I couldn’t imagine feeling the way I did. I was kind of numb. I knew I had paid my dues, but now it’s up to you to do the things that will show everyone that the Angels made the right decision. That’s the scary part, wondering if you’ll do the things to make people believe.”

Pettis thinks he went hitless that day, but he remembers making two nice plays in the outfield. Late in the game he threw out a runner at the plate, and the Angels won, 2-1.

Everything is new on opening day. The uniforms are new, the bases are new, the grass even seems new. The blades, like the spirit of the players and fans, haven’t yet been trampled.

“You notice the difference between spring training games and this,” said Kirk McCaskill, as he worked a crossword puzzle an hour before Tuesday’s Angel opener. “It’s even different from the Freeway Series. There’s a difference, knowing that it counts. The numbers are for real, you’ll be seeing real box scores.

“My first opening day was last year. We opened in Seattle. Bobby Grich hit the first pitch of the season for a home run.”

Now Grich has slipped away, into the retirement life style of the rich and famous. The vacancy he left will be filled by a rookie, a bright prospect named Mark McLemore.

Forty-five minutes before the first pitch, 20 of McLemore’s friends and relatives, including his parents, were settling down. In the clubhouse, Mark was putting on his brand new Angel uniform for opening day.

“I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t nervous,” McLemore said. “I’m very excited. The closer it gets, the more excited I get. You only have one first opening day in the big leagues, and this is it for me.”

The book was open at Page 1.