Opening Day In Cincinnati 2008

Today is Opening Day in Cincinnati. Opening Day in Cincinnati in the old days was the first day of the Major League Baseball season. This honor of opening the new season with the first game was given to the Cincinnati Reds because they were the first professional baseball team. When I was a kid, I loved baseball as many other young boys did and collected baseball cards, read the sports pages, learned the players and their statistics and occasionally went to a game. When I was 10 years old the Reds played their games at Crosley Field in an area of the city known as the West End. My father’s hardware store was on Central Avenue in the West End, and I discovered that on a nice summer day, I could easily walk to Crosley field and spend the afternoon watching a game. In the early 1950’s, Major League Baseball played most of their games during the day, not at night. The first night game was played at Crosley Field. Again an honor given to the Cincinnati Reds as the first professional baseball team. On one particular day in the summer of 1953, I decided to get to the ball park really early and see if I could get a few autographs. I bought a program for 15 cents and they gave you a little sharpen pencil too. Then I went over to where the Reds came out of their club house and waited to ask for autographs. I knew many of the players by sight having seen their picture in the newspaper. As they came out I asked each one for his autograph, but not one Reds’ player would take a second to sign my program. After a while I decided that I was not going to waste this opportunity. In that I got to the field plenty early, I decided to see if I could get any Brooklyn Dodgers’ autographs. I knew many of the players on the Dodgers as they unlike the Reds where a good team and at the top of the National League standings. Back then there were only 8 teams in each league. Autographs came much easier from the Dodgers for me. I got Duke Snyder, Pee Wee Reese and some old coach with a big head of white hair. Then I spotted Jackie Robinson walking close to where I was standing and called out to him. The great Jackie Robinson walked over and I asked him for his autograph. He took my program and signed it and handed it back to me, but then started to ask me questions about myself. Like most 10 year old boys, I was anxious to get on with collecting more autographs, but I politely answered his questions. The interview just kept going on and I wanted to get some more autographs. At the end of the interview Jackie had one of the coaches toss him a ball and he gave it to me. I took that ball home and played with it on the street as it was pretty rough when I got it. I remember asking Roy Campanello for his autograph, but Roy turned and said they had to get off the field because the Reds were going to take infield. I knew what he meant and just waved good-bye. In the 1970’s, Jackie Robinson was honored in Cincinnati at a World Series Game. He died a short time later. I was at that World Series Game and as I looked down from my seat, I remembered that day back in the early 1950’s when I was 10 years old and I was interviewed by the great Jackie Robinson. After that day at Crosley Field, I followed the fortunes of the Dodgers more closely. In October 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers put it all together and beat their arch rivals the New York Yankees to win the 1955 World Series. A few years later, 1958, they moved to Los Angeles. In 1955, a young left hander from Brooklyn joined the Dodgers. He had been playing basketball and baseball at the University of Cincinnati before signing with the Dodgers. The Reds did not want this left hander anymore than they wanted to give me an autograph. Maybe the Reds did not like the way either of us looked. That young left hander went on to win some big games for the Dodgers and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Like me, he was left handed and Jewish, and his name was Sandy Koufax. Last summer I painted an envelope and created a tribute to the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking into Major league Baseball on April 15, 1947. As it is Opening Day in Cincinnati today, I am posting that painting in honor of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to break the color line and enter Major League Baseball in the modern era. The title of the painting is Leveling The Playing Field 1947-2007.

Normally on a Monday, I would post a piece about the markets. The Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is giving a speech about the "nonexistent" new regulatory plan of the Bush administration. Since Paul Krugman of the New York Times has already expressed my feelings and my opinion on the matter, I will simply say ditto. Read Paul’s piece in the NY Times. If I feel the need to comment later, I will, but for now let’s let today be about baseball, a better officiated game than Wall Street.