By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
They welcomed baseball back to downtown Rochester on Friday evening.
Oh, it was by no means baseball weather; low 40s, dreary, overcast skies and a perpetual wind-blown drizzle. If you were a mallard, you loved it.
You also loved it if you were a baseball fan, though, because, well, it meant baseball has returned. On any other day, 43 and a spitting sky would be downright miserable at the ball yard.
But when it’s Opening Day, 43 feels like 63 because it means spring is officially here, and summer can’t be far behind. The chilly raindrops were just Mother Nature’s way of quenching the ball diamond’s thirst.
“It wasn’t that bad, and that’s coming from a Texas boy,” said right fielder Stone Garrett, who collected three of the Red Wings 12 hits in the 8-7, 10-inning loss to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. “Once the adrenaline gets going, you’re not really thinking about the weather.”
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
Besides, did anyone really expect anything different? The chances were pretty slim that it was going to be 65 and sunny (like it will be on Saturday afternoon). It was, after all, still March. In more than 100 years of pro baseball in Rochester, there had never been an Opening Day in March.
The announced crowd was 4,791. There may have been half that number actually in the stands, those baseball diehards who cherish the tradition, those families who for generation after generation have been marking Red Wings Opening Day on their calendars.
But they’d never ventured to old Silver Stadium on Norton Street or the ballyard on Morrie Silver Way this early in the spring.
Before Friday, April 5 was the earliest date the Red Wings ever started the season at home, and that was in 2015. In fact, playing Game 1 of the season at home is a rarity. Since the downtown ballpark – known as Frontier Field for the first 26 seasons, now Innovative Field – opened for baseball in 1997, only twice had the Wings started their season in Rochester: in 2007 and 2018.
Changes in Major League Baseball necessitated a schedule template that begins this year on March 31. Major League teams want Triple-A clubs playing more games (150, compared to the 142 they played before the MLB’s hostile takeover of minor league baseball).
They also demand more days off, so Mondays are always a scheduled day off except for Memorial Day and July 3 (to ensure IL teams are guaranteed being home either July 3 or 4 to maximize attendance).
Red Wings general manager Dan Mason also found a way to maximize attendance over the next two months. His annual 50-degree guarantee for Opening Day means tickets for Friday’s game become a ticket for any home game in April or May.
For the record, the (moderately?) accurate thermometer behind the right field bullpen never budged from 43 degrees. Not from opening pitch and not after the final out was recorded in the 10th inning.
Which made those toboggan hats given to the first 1,000 were put to good use. Then again, it’s spring. There will be chilly days. Just like October and November in the northern states, when the MLB’s playoffs and World Series are taking place.
That’s ultimately where the players want to end up, so learning to play in the cold isn’t a bad idea.
“I always used to think about the Yankees, playing at the end of the season and in the playoffs,” Wings manager Matthew LeCroy said. “But it won’t be long and the weather will be better.”
too bad MLB (who really doesn’t care one particle about fans of any minor league team..obviously) doesn’t play fewer regular season games and replace them with a legitimate playoff round again. Fans always like the excitement of playoffs.
Play 144 again and don’t start so early, especially up north. That would allow for two rounds, like before. But no, MLB does not care and thats really sad.
The weather this afternoon is delightfully warm and sunny…at least at gametime and probably until 3 or 4. Too bad more fans werent out to enjoy this unusual day in April. Yesterday the park was mostly empty and the weather was poor. The game was poor as well. (I know complaining already) Wings had two leads and couldn’t put those lousy Pigs away.
Losing is never fun (if one cares about those things). 1997 was ages ago and thats the last time either a Wings or Amerks team won it all. Longest drought in my long lifetime here in Rochester.
Sabres don’t care about winning in Rochester. Thats a hill I;m willing to die on. they pay lip service but nothing more. Note how many players they assigned to our roster for post season. (I’ll help…zero) Twins tried hard but never found the formula. Nats are not very good at the moment so guess we’ll wait and see how long it takes to rebuild their farm. When they were the Expos, they were renowned for having one of the best farm organizations in all of MLB for several years.
I miss the Expos. I miss the Red Wings being relevant.
needed to clarify my first paragraph…meant to say too bad MLB doesn’t allow minor league teams to play fewer games…like 144…to possibly extend the playoffs and/or allow the season to start later in April.