Why does cincinnati always open at home

Reds dedicate Joe Morgan mural. More info. Motivated India ROY finalist. A look back at the season. More Info. Check out these Reds Podcasts. Latest News. State of the Reds' System. Reds Promotions. Votto on working on his swing. Jonathan India on ROY finalists. Ivan Johnson on hitting, home run. The groups often met downtown around the lunch hour, consumed a few beverages, and started touring the city on their way to the ballpark in the West End at the intersection of Findlay and Western Avenue.

There was no organized starting time, no official route. Instead, it resembled one large roving tailgate party. And often the festivities continued at the park. The groups would march around the field once or twice, and then take their seats, where they would continue to exercise their lungs in song and cheers. They smartly promoted their presence by bringing in the "official" American flag to fly over the ballpark, and presented the manager with a large bouquet of flowers at home plate.

By the s, the pre-game acitivities were being referred to as the Findlay Market Parade. Throughout the Crosley Field era, until , the "parade" was a small affair, usually limited to the shop owners and their friends and family.

They marched down Findlay Street through the West End to the ballpark, usually to small crowds. Once inside the park, the spotlight shone on the group. The climax was a loop around the field in full view of the pre-game crowd, and the presentation of the flags and gifts to the Reds owner and manager. With the Reds move downtown to Riverfront Stadium in , the parade dynamics changed completely.

Now, the line of march headed down Race Street and turned on Fifth and went right through the heart of downtown Cincinnati. Local television began covering the procession live for the first time. The parade became the focal point instead of the ballpark presentation. The parade organizers decided to open up the event to outside organizations and the entries grew to nearly When Marge Schott purchased the Reds in the , she used her connections with the Cincinnati Zoo to include elephants and other large animals that gave the entire event the feel of a circus.

The First Game. Veteran Cincinnati baseball fans will fondly recall that Cincinnati not only had the home opener every year, but that the Reds also hosted the first game of the season.

And this tradition, which surely was embedded somewhere in the U. The facts are otherwise, but the intensity of feelings about the first-game tradition only serve to remind all of us how much the National Pastime means to Cincinnatians. The Reds did thost the first game of the season here for many years, but Cincinnati never had a long-standing tradition of opening the season a day early. But it did happen often enough and recent enough that most of us are sure it was a part of Reds baseball ever since The first time Cincinnati hosted the first game of the season, a day earlier than all other clubs, was in And it was so odd that the newspapers ran a story to explain why it was happening.

Prior to , it had never happened. This intermittent scheduling continued in the s, with the Reds opening the season here a day early five times. Frequently the shared the early opening slot with the Washington Senators of the American League. Then beginning in and for 14 of the next 16 seasons, the first pitch of the NL season was thrown here in Cincinnati.

This was the heyday of Reds openers. So clearly, the opening the season here a day early was not a part of the established traditions of Major League Baseball, nor the National League, nor the Reds.

It was an annual rite of spring, however, for enough years, to give all of us a sense of entitlement. We should start the season here in Cincinnati! It came to symbolize the great tradition of Cincinnati Reds baseball.

And no one would argue at least no one in Cincinnati that it is a tradition worth restoring. The Reds lost to the Braves, Frank Bancroft, long-time business manager of the Reds, also served briefly as their on-field manager in Opening Day grew under his tenure to be celebrated as a holiday in Cincinnati. For his tireless promotion of the opener, Bancroft is known as the "Father of Opening Day. Sparky Anderson receives the honorary "first pitch" ball from a special emissary on Opening Day, A few moments later the opener came to a sudden and tragic end with the death of umpire John McSherry.

Credit: Cincinnati Reds. Singer Kenny Rogers right also performed. Doyles Rooters Group, Opening Day, The predecessor of the Findlay Market Parade, the Rooter's Groups parades of the early s, toured downtown Cincinnati on Opening Day in horse-drawn wagons. This photo was taken at 12th and Race.

Credit: Steve Wolter. One of the earliest photos of the Findlay Market Parade on Opening Day shows the organizers presenting a floral baseball to Reds manager Jack Hendricks in A standing-room-only crowd waved flags prior to the opener, the first game played at Great American Ball Park. Then, in , when baseball tried to schedule the Reds to start on the road, the team pointed to 60 years of tradition to keep things as they were.

Besides, general manager Larry MacPhail argued, the Reds needed the money from the annual sellout and both teams got to split the ticket sales. Many people assume the Reds open each season because the Red Stockings were the first professional baseball team. Not so, say Erardi and Rhodes. The press began linking Opening Day to the home of professional baseball in the s as a way to justify what had already been a tradition.

For many years, the Reds had the first game scheduled each season, before anyone else played, but that tradition has fallen by the wayside in recent years as international openers are often played several days before the rest of the season starts.