Old habits are tough to break. You can’t teach old curmudgeons new tricks. Take your pick.
Either, or both, might explain why I’m all dressed up with no place to go today. It’s because of a tradition that started on the last Opening Day at Memorial Stadium. That’s when I got in the habit of going full tuxedo for the big days, the kind you remember where you were when such-and-such happened during the last 28 years.
The last day at Memorial Stadium, check. The opening of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, check. All the Opening Days since, 27 checks. 2130 and 2131, check and check. Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson’s last day and Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker’s last game as teammates with the Tigers, check, check and check. Cal’s last game, check.
There were a few others along the way, but there has always been one common thread. Opening Day. That’s when the official greeting has always been: “Happy New Year.”
