
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994                   TAG: 9404030015
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: HAL BOCK ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OPENING AT NIGHT TRASHES ANOTHER BASEBALL TRADITION

The humanitarians who run major-league baseball always are eager to improve their product, always on the lookout for little ways to make their sport more appealing.

For a century or so, they had this quaint little tradition of always opening the season in Cincinnati, a tribute to the home of the first professional baseball team. Often, there would be games in other cities on Opening Day, as well, but the Reds almost always timed things so they had the first pitch.

Opening Day in Cincinnati was a centerpiece of April in southern Ohio, almost a civic holiday. There was a downtown parade with floats and all the usual frills. Many offices would close early so workers could welcome the Reds and the return of baseball. Riverfront Stadium routinely was sold out for the festive start of the season.

The humanitarians took one look at that and decided that, just like everything else, it could be improved.

Just like they improved baseball with the designated hitter and artificial turf and World Series games that end after midnight.

This latest improvement would require the most minor of adjustments. Instead of opening the season on Monday afternoon, they're doing it tonight.

ESPN is thrilled.

"We saw this as a way to make the cable package more special," said Loren Matthews, senior vice president for programming at ESPN. "This gives us a special opening night. It makes our package more special."

Get used to it. The ESPN deal calls for Sunday night openers the next six years. They may not all be in Cincinnati, though.

Sometime after Marge Schott was allowed back into her office at the end of her eight-month suspension for racial insensitivity, someone slipped the Cincinnati owner a calendar. Careful study revealed the new, improved Reds opener happens to occur on Easter Sunday, not the very best time for a night game.

Realizing this, Schott pressed for a change. Her humanitarian partners refused, saying it was too late to do that and, anyway, a deal is a deal. So the boss has scheduled a second opener.

"ESPN and major-league baseball will have their Opening Day Sunday night," she said. "The Reds' opener is Monday."

The players, not that far removed from the owners when it comes to tradition, couldn't care less. Starting pitcher Jose Rijo was typically nonchalant about the whole thing.

"It's just another game," he said. "Night or day, it doesn't matter. It's still a game."

It does matter. It matters because Opening Day is special.

by CNB