Plenty of pomp on Opening Day

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

CINCINNATI | When Edward Elgar wrote Pomp & Circumstance he wasn't thinking about Opening Day of a professional baseball team on the banks of the Ohio River.

But if editors of dictionaries want to clearly explain the meaning of Pomp & Circumstance they could run a little photo of a baseball fan waving a Cincinnati Reds pennant with the words, "Pomp & Circumstance" under it.

Opening Day in Cincinnati isn't an event or a happening, it is a Baseball Holiday.

Relief pitcher Danny Graves said it nicely recently: "Where else do they have a parade to celebrate Opening Day? Where else are kids excused from school if they have a ticket to Opening Day? The whole day gives me goose bumps and I'm not even from Cincinnati."

Said Ken Griffey Jr., who is a Cincinnati native, "A built-in excuse to miss school, no questions asked. Anything else, you needed a doctor's excuse."

Opening Day (always capital 'O,' capital 'D') in Cincinnati begins with a parade, and today's Findlay Market Parade is the 86th. When Marge Schott was CEO of the Reds, the parade was more important to her than the game. She and her St. Bernards always rode the route, front and center.

"Opening Day is history, honey, and you have to keep history going," she always said.

There was no Opening Day in 1995 due to a players strike, but the Findlay Market Parade marched through downtown Cincinnati anyway.

John Erardi and Greg Rhodes wrote a book titled Opening Day, and it is 319 pages full of nothing but Opening Day memories and information about Reds openers and carries the subtitle: "The ONLY Baseball holiday in the WORLD!!"

There won't be any elephants from the Cincinnati Zoo on the field today, but there were during Schott's days ... and the pachyderms weren't shy about leaving behind huge lumps of remembrances.

Opening Day in Cincinnati means politicians get to throw out the first pitch and this year it is U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. And it means celebrity national anthem singers and this year it is Staff Sgt. Felita Rowe of the U.S. Air Force Band of Flight's All Systems Go ensemble.

And, of course, there are flyovers during the national anthem and this year it will be B-2 Stealths.

The P&C continues in the seventh inning when Cincinnati fireman John Winfred sings God Bless America.

Ushers have been known to wear tuxedos on Opening Day, and in 1956 The Today Show with Dave Garroway was broadcast on Opening Day in Fountain Square.

There have been many triumphs and tragedies on Opening Day, but no tragedy like the one in 1996 when home plate umpire John McSherry collapsed and died on the field, postponing the rest of the game until the next day.

Oh, yes, there is a baseball game played.