Detroit ― A jammed ballpark sporting red-white-and-blue bunting. A sea of caps adorned with old English D’s. Expectations higher than the military helicopters flying over the stadium before the game.
Even the weather was baseball-ready.
Opening Day is one of the sweetest days in sports, and nowhere was that truer than Friday in a sports-crazy metropolis like Detroit. A 4-0 win by the Tigers over the St. Louis Cardinals made the day even sweeter still.
“Woooooo,” Janet Jefferson of Macomb Township exclaimed after the final pitch, although the number of “o’s” was difficult to calculate. “We going all the way this year, and you can quote me.”
The combination of a home opener and a Tigers victory had fans giddy.
Monica Donias of Davison was so excited that she made Tigers posters for her family’s tailgate party this year.
“It’s just been amazing how much this team has grown and how amazing they’re doing,” she said.
Even before the game was over, the atmosphere in Comerica Park was different from a Tuesday night game in July. Yes, Tigers fans wanted to win. They always want to win, but something else was in the air. It almost felt like a celebration.
Opening Day game had Tigers fans rejoicing for many reasons
What was the crowd of 45,008 celebrating? It wasn’t the outcome because the game hadn’t ended yet. Fans said they were rejoicing over several things.
For Georgie Adams of New Baltimore, it was the return of baseball. Adams, 70, circles the date of Opening Day every year and patiently waits for its appearance. She goes to a few games a year, but the one she never misses is the home opener.
“It’s a lot of fun to see the people enjoy it so much,” Adams said. “Anybody who knows me knows how much I love the Tigers.”
Adams luxuriated from her perch beyond the right field foul pole as she soaked in the sights and sounds of her favorite day. The team took a 3-0 lead in the 5th inning, and she was positively exhilarated.
On the other side of the stadium, Jean O’Connell of Detroit was just as excited as she held her own celebration. She was commemorating the holding of high hopes. Every April, she believes her Tigers could win the championship.
If spring is the season of renewal, Opening Day represents a fresh start for fans like O’Connell. And, yes, she firmly believes the Tigers will win the championship.
“They have a really good team and did good last year,” O’Connell said. “They also have (Justin) Verlander back.”
Verlander, a pitcher who rejoined the team this year after being traded in 2017, is a symbol of the team’s glory days when it won four consecutive divisional titles from 2011 to 2014.
Like Adams, O’Connell wasn’t perturbed by the score. Even an Opening Day loss wouldn’t shake her resolve, she said.
“It’s just one game, and it’s a long season,” she said.
A sunny day makes Opening Day snow a distant memory
In other ballpark precincts, it was hard for Paulina Wallace of Wyandotte to recognize Opening Day. The sun was peeking out from behind clouds. The thermometer rose above 70.
Wallace, 63, is old enough to remember snow falling during the Tigers’ first home game of the season.
“I’ll take it. It’s beautiful,” she said outside of Comerica Park as she waited to be joined by friends.
Wallace, who has attended home openers for half her life, said she left his Tigers sweatshirt, Tigers jacket and Tigers wool cap at home. But she was still wearing her Tigers T-shirt.
Forget Christmas. Forget his birthday. This was Bill McClure’s favorite day of the year.
McClure, 48, of Troy, said he loves all sports, but there’s something about baseball that makes Opening Day a singular treat.
“There’s nothing like it that compares to baseball. I don’t know why,” he said.
It may have been the hot dog breakfast McClure and his buddies were grilling on a portable stove in a bustling parking lot across the street from the stadium.
Asked about the unusual gastronomic choice, he just shrugged his shoulders.
“When you go to a baseball game, you eat hot dogs,” McClure said.
Opening Day draws old and new fans alike
Ann Marie Genrich-Rockov of Plymouth has been coming to Opening Day since the 1980s.
She was there Friday, bedecked in Tigers gear, naturally.
“We’ve carried down the tradition that we’re here, same spot, and people know that we’re here,” she said about her tailgating spot. “We bring laughter, fun, whatever it takes.”
Her Tigers bona fides are many, including being outside the old Tiger Stadium when the team won the World Series in 1984, with fans pounding on cars and being generally delirious.
Comerica Park drew a new fan in Chef Reactions, an internet celebrity who reacts to “bad cooking.”
He told The Detroit News he just started being a baseball fan, but the Tigers are “his team.”
In a video posted to Facebook, he said, “This is awesome. … I regret not getting into baseball a long time ago.”
He asked people to say hello, but he said, “Good luck, though, ’cause I’ve already seen 1,000 people who look exactly like me.”
Although the internet star didn’t reveal his name or location, he told The News he often comes to the city.
“I’m also a Red Wings fan,” he said. “I’ve been here like six to eight times in the last year.”
Three fans showed up at the ballpark in one outfit or, more accurately, in onesies, Tigers onesies.
Matt and Bre Ayers of Grand Rapids and their nephew, Wayne Lash, were the stylish trio. The instigator was Bre, who received the outfits for Christmas.
“It’s our first year looking like this,” said Matt, 42, who has been a fan since he moved from Arkansas in 2010. “We’ve been super fans for a while.”
After the team made the playoffs the past two years, Matt said his hopes were sky high that the team would do well this season.
fdonnelly@detroitnews.com
(313) 223-4186
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day win elicits a sun-soaked fan celebration
Reporting by Francis X. Donnelly, Max Bryan and Sarah Atwood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
