"Thank God It's Opening Day"

Some words have meanings beyond their literal definition.  In baseball's case, it's "Opening Day" - two words that mean far more than the first game of the new season.  All sports, of course, have an opening day, but none has the special meaning of baseball.  Why is baseball different?  It's partially because the beginning of the new baseball season and the return of warmer weather happen more or less at the same time. But a more important reason is that baseball's opening day invokes the game's history, our personal baseball history and the ways the two intersect. For a number of years, attending the Mets opener was di rigueur for Paul Zinn and me.  About ten years ago, four-year-old Sophie Zinn, sensing something important even if she didn't quite know what it was, generously offered to "go with you guys."  We declined, but knowing Sophie, her turn, as well as Henry's, will come.

Pittsburgh Gazette Times - April 13, 1926

When did opening day become something more than the first game of the season?  An interesting question, but not for today - hopefully another time.  There's no doubt though that opening day had become special by at least the Deadball Era. (1901 to 1919) And it was perhaps even more so a century ago when the 1926 season got underway.  Extra media attention was devoted to the day such as the full-page coverage shown above from the Pittsburgh Gazette Times.  While photographs had become an important part of baseball newspaper coverage by then, cartoonists both syndicated and local still used their art to capture the importance of this special day.  

Philadelphia Inquirer - April 13, 1926

The Inquirer cartoon illustrates baseball's primacy over all other sports. There's also a brief nod in the lower righthand corner to those who no matter what never miss the opener.  Although perhaps not that well remembered today, cartoonist Rube Goldberg was famous for another aspect of his art.  Drawings of "inventions" that turned the simplest tasks such as turning on a light bulb into an insanely complex process.  So well-known were his creations, that if someone described unnecessary extra work as a real "Rube Goldberg," everyone knew what he meant.  

Brooklyn Daily Eagle - April 13, 1926

Will Gould's drawing captures long-gone features of 1920s baseball such as public address announcers, armed only with a megaphone to keep the crowd informed of lineup changes.  The artist also highlights some of the timeless aspects of the first game, like the joy of having a ticket and the universal optimism of opening day. Gould was an important cartoonist best known for his 1930s Red Barry detective series, created to compete with the far more well-known Dick Tracy.  What's interesting about this cartoon is that Will Gould was only 15 years old in 1926, far too young it would seem to have his work published in a major newspaper.  Apparently promising new players weren't the only phenoms taking part in opening day 1926.

Courier - News - April 13, 1926

By 1926, missing work to go to opening day had become almost a cliche. The number of workers having to take off for their grandmother's funerals mysteriously grew astronomically on that day.  What's interesting about this drawing is that it appeared in a local New Jersey newspaper, suggesting that even with a relatively long journey to either Philadelphia or New York, attending the first game of a new season was a must.

Bergen Record - April 14, 1926

Missing opening day was bad enough, learning a "friend" had wasted a ticket was beyond infuriating.  Like Rube Goldberg, Fontaine Fox was far better known for his other work - in Fox's case the classic Toonerville Trolly cartoons.  Published for over 40 years in more than 200 papers, the cartoons depicted early twentieth century suburban life in a community served by a "rickety trolly car."  This baseball drawing uses Fox's standard one-panel approach with multiple actions going on simultaneously. Even 100 years later, it's impossible not to feel for boys who missed an opportunity that might never come again.  It's no wonder that on one opening day as the train approached Shea Stadium, Paul Zinn exclaimed "Thank God It's Opening Day."  Thank God indeed!!!