“Play Ball!”

Although the 2010 Major League Baseball season officially began last night with Boston’s win over the Yankees, today is the first day of baseball.  No other sport’s Opening Day means nearly as much.  The new season represents the passing of winter into spring and the annual renewal of hope that our team will provide us with a season rich with exciting moments, happy memories, and maybe even a championship.

As a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan, I had the great fortune of growing up listening to Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Ernie Harwell announce baseball games. He has been retired for several years, but his annual recitation of the Bible’s Song of Solomon on the first day of Spring Training is very appropriate for this first day of regular season games.

For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

With unending gratitude to Ernie and best wishes to Tigers veterans and rookies, “Play Ball!“