4-5-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
There’s a different *feel* in the air when it comes to Opening Day. Sure, we’ve all seen the MLB promo videos, current and former players talking about what it means to them but, man, it just hits different this year for Pirates fans.
The hope of the rebuild that’s lasted since before Covid is finally appearing to bear fruit as the team got off to its best start in over 40 years. People in the city are excited. The feeling is palpable. Keller, Ke and Cruz are becoming talked about the same way Cutch, Marte and Walker were during that last window. Is this real? Is it ok to be excited?
Opening Day has an energy like no other. I’m not talking from experience, having only watched each year on TV, but, as I am finally able to go to the game this time, I’m ecstatic. I don’t know exactly what to expect so I wanted to ask the question to some of my fellow Pirates fans: What does Opening Day in Pittsburgh mean to you?
Gary Morgan (@garymo2007): It usually means a fresh start. One of the only times – especially in a down year – where the place is packed and primarily with Pirates fans. The place just feels different when it’s packed and optimism is at a high point. The bunting, the player roll call, all the pageantry, it just comes together and usually has me an emotional mess by the time first pitch happens.
Mike Crawford (@mikecrawford_17): I think it’s a borderline holiday in Pittsburgh. No matter how the season before it went, everyone is still excited to get out for that first game – no matter the weather or if the team is projected to lose 100 games. To me, that shows the passion of this city and its love for, not just its teams, but baseball in general. Personally, it’s always about the excitement of just baseball being back. Playing my whole life, you knew when opening day hit, you were close to playing too – which always excites you. In terms of Pittsburgh sports home openers, I say it easily outranks the Steelers or Pens with just the atmosphere around the stadium and a real excitement about the season.
Craig Toth (@BucsBasement): The Home Opener is just the perfect encapsulation of what the season can become. A sea of Pirates Fans packing PNC Park with one common goal: Cheering our Buccos on to victory. That’s all everyone in Pittsburgh truly wants.
People say Pittsburgh is a great football or hockey town; and it truly is. But, at its roots, it’s also a great baseball town. Back in the day when me and my buddies went to the Home Opener, we would jokingly say to other fans, “Nice to see you now because we know we won’t see you in September.”
And, it was the truth.
As the season waned on, the number of fans dwindled down to the point where ushers wouldn’t even stop us as we made our way down from the 300’s to the 100’s. As a Pirates Fan that’s not what I want. I want it PACKED. So much so that a sea of Black and Gold flows out onto the Rotunda. Opening Day gives me a glimpse of what that could feel like in Pittsburgh again.
Pirate Queen (@PGHPirateQueen): At the risk of sounding cliche, Opening Day in Pittsburgh is a whole new ballgame. It means new beginnings. Fresh chances. Reconnecting with friends you haven’t seen since October. Hope springs eternal for every Pirates season. Especially starting 5-0. Baseball is also romantic. For us, it’s another year of showing our love and dedication for the game and the team – as well as showing our love and dedication for each other.
Adam ‘Yark’ Yarkovsky (eYARKulation): Opening day has always been special to me. Think I may have missed one in the last 35 years. Whether I had to skip school, take a vacation day or just call off sick, I was going. The day that park opened, and we walked in and saw the real grass on the field, I damn near cried.
Walking into the season fresh, never knowing if this is the year. Seeing familiar faces and knowing we get to do this just about every day for the next 6 months together is incredible. Hopefully soon, I can start taking the kids down too. It gets so crazy with people and parking but that’s something I’d like to do with them for the next 30 years.
Jim Stamm (@JimStamm22): Man, it’s just a special day here for so many reasons. From Three Rivers Stadium to PNC Park, and all the years in between, it has always felt like finally being able to say hello to an old friend I haven’t seen in far too long. As a lifelong baseball junkie, and now as a dad sharing this with my young son, it’s a perfect day to celebrate being a Pirates fan, a father, and a true Pittsburgher. And I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Josh Booth (Bridge2Buctober): This will be our 10th straight opening day. Our kids have never missed one. We went to our first Opening Day in 2014 when Neil Walker hit the 10th inning walk-off HR. That September, our daughter was born. We haven’t missed since. We buy tickets for our whole family, and more – 10 or 11 tickets this year.
From that Walker walk-off, the JHay lead off HR, the snow game, the Moran grand slam in the first inning one year and homered the next year, too, the Seiya 2 HR game, and last year’s Reynolds inside the park HR and the return of Cutch. There are so many moments that happen on a special day like this.
This year, it’s not only a family tradition, but the first year in a while to have real hope that this team is turning things around. I expect a buzz like we haven’t seen in years there this week. And we’re looking forward to coming “home.”
There’s a lot to be excited for in this baseball season as a Pirates fan: Walking over the newly-refinished Clemente Bridge, looking at the Team Wall of Fame and the statues around the park; just feeling the energy of fans, young and old, enthusiastic about their team again, knowing that they aren’t staring down the barrel of another 90+ loss season but the real prospect of Buctober returning to the North Side. Remembering the blackout games and high-tension of walk-offs against division rivals. Close plays and clutch hits. T-shirt giveaways, firework nights, rain delays and extra-inning battles. Win or lose, you always have something memorable.
Baseball is a slog of a season, full of joy and heartbreak, but on Opening Day, in the Best Ballpark in Baseball, it just hits a little different.
Whether you’re spending today watching the game on TV or on your computer at work, while home with family or at the ballpark eating a ‘Renegade’ hot dog with 40,000 of your closest friends, at 4:12pm, for all of us Pirates fans, you’re home.
#LetsGoBucs
Steel City Pirates 
I haven’t been to an opening day since the 80s but it may still be my favorite day of the year. As a Pirates fan that is nearly 3000 miles away the very first game of the season is what I look forward to. It doesn’t matter if it’s in PGH or away. The first game is a metaphor for a new start in life for me. No matter how bad things have gone in the past the chance to start a new journey is a lift. I’m fighting cancer so it matters even more. The hope of a new start is something that is inspiring. There are few personal victories left for me but living through a season which I’ve always viewed as a life unto itself keeps the fight alive. Each season has good times and bad. The players on cold streaks are like personal struggles in life. You get up each day and do everything that you can to improve. When fighting cancer that means being careful of your diet, exercising not to lose strength, knowing when to rest, getting enough sleep and surrounding yourself with people that can make a positive impact on your spirits. At the end of the season making the playoffs is the reward for a good effort. For me, the playoffs are making another birthday, still feeling good, and having my most recent doctors visit tell me that the cancer is still controlled. Perseverance through good and bad!
My recent heroes aren’t who you might expect. Larry Lucchino who just passed away but fought cancer among other ailments for years. Connor Joe and Jameson Tallion who have both faced cancer in recent years. Bruce Willis in his battle with dementia. Christopher Reeve and his long battle with paralysis. My cousin Anthony who passed away a few years back after exceeding all expectations and living until 68 after being born with Muscular Dystrophy.
Yes, I love baseball. I love the Pirates and I wish that they would win more often but every season I know they will be playing every game and fighting to win. What an inspiration!
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