The Grapefruit and Cactus leagues have all wound down, fifth starters have been found, and every team still has a shot at the pennant. Yes folks, it's Opening Day!!!!!

Opening Day. What a term!!!!! It brings a wonderful feeling to me that is born of the many things that I love about baseball. I dig Opening Day for the big reasons. One big reason being that the 162 game marathon of a season is back in my life like an old friend that I can start back up with like we never parted. The other big reason is that I really want to watch my Angels make another run at the World Series. However, I really dig baseball for the little reasons.

I dig little reasons like the sqeeze play, infield fly rule and rally caps. I also like Dot races, sausage races and Twingo. I like hearing Rory Markas saying "Just another Halo victory!", about 100 times a year. I like hearing out of town voices like Bob Uecker, Harry Kalas, and Jon Miller. I like the slider, hangin' curve, knucklle ball, and the split-finger fastball. I like Rally Monkeys, stoplight dogs, and parking attendants that say "en-yoy." I like the feel of a new cap, checking the out of town scoreboard, and the thrill of opening a new pack of baseball cards. I like watching Baseball Tonight, the All-Star Game, and a day game at Wrigley Field. I like clean singles, seeing-eye singles, gorks, flares, and ringing doubles off the wall in left-center. I like pocket balls, at 'em balls and line shots to the gap. I dig dingers, big flys, and walk-off blasts. I could on go, but I think you get my point. I like the game for the big and the little reasons. I hope you do too.

Here's a bit of trivia for the week. 19 years ago, Frankin Stubbs did what only 7 other men have done in Major League history. He played an entire nine inning game at first base without recording a single putout. He did it as a member of the Houston Astros on July 25, 1990. The Astros beat the Braves 5-1 in front of 9,492 fans at Atlanta's old Fulton County Stadium. Both teams were about 20 games out of first place at the time. The closest Stubbs came to making a putout in the game was when he fielded a grounder hit to him in the seventh inning. However, instead of running to first base and recording the putout unassisited, he flipped the ball to pitcher Danny Darwin who covered the bag and recorded the putout. Weird, huh?

Next Week: Initial League Standings and more Trivia!!!!! Have a good week folks and remember to hit 'em where they ain't.