Phillies Opening Day Facts and Memories

Opening day of a new baseball season is always special in Philadelphia. There seems to be a spring in the step of those who follow the sport and the hometown Phillies.  

The anticipation that has built over the months, since the end of the Eagles football season (which is when I start looking at the Phillies calendar), will break into a full celebration of Spring. Office radios will be tuned-in to receive the game. In this day and age, some offices will even have flat screen high-definition receivers broadcasting images of the contest sans sound, so as not to present open encouragement to bag what little productivity the non-baseball fans will be attempting (assuming they do not need the input or assistance of their baseball-loving coworkers).

Roy Halladay will start his third straight opening day assignment for the Phillies.  He has one win in two tries. Last year's start was a no decision in a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros.

Speaking of the Astros, one of the most memorable opening days for me was the 1965 contest between the Phillies, led by Chris Short, and the Astros which was the first regular season game played in the brand spanking new Astrodome. I remember my neighbor, Butch, signaling the start of the season through our kitchen windows by swinging an imaginary bat and pointing to his mother's cake dish cover. It took me quite a while to make the connection. 

A cake dish cover?!? Apropos - I guess - for a domed stadium.

Few people recall Blanton's one opening day start. Mostly because it was Cy Blanton in 1941!  

The only other opening day that sticks out in my mind wasn't really a true opening day at all. It was the day - a Saturday, in 1971 - when the Phillies played their first game in Veterans Stadium. The team had actually started the season days earlier in Pittsburgh.

But everyone was excited for the delayed opening of the vet. Construction had run into cost overruns and bad weather, which had pushed back the opening a full year. The much-celebrated stadium was considered to be the solution to single-purpose stadiums that were growing long in the tooth and in states of decay.  

I remember them dropping the first ball from a helicopter to a wildly staggering and stumbling catcher Mike Ryan. He made the catch!

The vet was cut from the same lump of cookie dough as the Astrodome sans roof, Busch Stadium (St. Louis), Riverfront Stadium (Cincinnati), and Three Rivers Stadium (Pittsburgh). The multi-purpose facility eventually fell into disfavor, given the dangers of Astroturf and designs less suited for any one sport - let alone a variety of them.

Steve Carlton had the most opening day starts (14) for the Phillies but only won 3 of them while losing 9. Robin Roberts started 12 opening days for the Phils, winning 5, losing 6. 

I will always remember opening days in 1981 when the Phillies received their World Series rings. (In 2009 the Phillies received their WS rings before the third game of the season.)

The Phillies have played the Pirates five times and have lost ALL FIVE. In addition, the Phillies are just 13-22 all-time at PNC Park.

Irregardless of past history, opening day is always a time for optimism and excitement both for the beginning of another season of baseball and the welcome arrival of warm weather and the promise of summer just over the horizon. So enjoy taking the cellophane wrapper off another season of Phillies baseball.