Anna and Maria both ditched school and joined me and Lou for their first-ever Opening Day! Best Opening Day ever! We got downtown early to watch the Findlay Market Parade. Once the girls had the opportunity to experience the parade, we targeted the ballpark for a little batting practice and to enjoy all the pregame ceremonies, video highlights, player introductions, National Anthem and the flyover.
I set a personal record that day when, despite eating ballpark junk food and drinking a couple of Coca-Colas (one later for dinner) and guzzling some H2O, somehow I managed a superhuman physiological feat by not visiting a restroom for a span of 15.5 hours. TMI? Hey! It was 15.5 hours! That deserves recognition. For perspective, if you watched successively and without any break.....
Rogue One; A Star Wars Story
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
The Rise of Skywalker
..... that would take 15 hours and 45 minutes. I was the Darth Vader of bodily functions that day.
On May 4th, the First Saturday in May, Lou and I skipped out on the Run for the Roses and instead attended that day's 150th anniversary of the first game in Reds history.
The oldest professional team in baseball marked the historic occasion by opening the new 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Pavilion. There were speeches by the Hall of Famer Marty Brennaman and team owner Robert (he lets me call him "Bob") Castellini.
As you may plainly see, it rained during the ceremony. This pregame commemoration was attended by an assortment of Reds officials, dignitaries, leading citizens, humanitarians and at least one Renaissance Man.
That's my inside source deep within the Reds organization! #unmasked
As part of the season-long observances for the Reds 150th anniversary they held an open house party at the ball yard for the general public.
Diamond Club!
Front row Diamond Club seats!
Dugout!
Me with my close personal friend Yasiel Puig! Two wild horses! I thanked him for being there. He replied, "Oh, no. Thank YOU for being here!" #yearofthepuig #patentpending
Anna and Maria went to a few games with me in 2019. Anna got to see the benches-clearing brawl between the Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates.
I captured the ball field reflected in Maria's sunglasses.
Lou and I popped for Club Seats on the night the Reds wore the 1976 Big Red Machine throwback uniforms, seated indirectly below the Reds broadcast booth.
Our seats were directly in front of Bob Castellini's luxury suite. He was there that night with Mrs Castellini. They were joined by the notorious Butcher of Cincinnati, Doc Hollywood.
This surveillance photo of the Castellini suite was taken following the ballgame.
One hot summer day in August I evaded the oppressive heat and humidity and chilled in the climate-controlled Riverfront Club. I had the whole room to myself.
Roll the credits!
