Uva: My memories of Opening Day
It doesn’t matter what level it is, there’s something special about Opening Day in baseball. For me, the majority of my Opening Day memories are from growing up in Boston and going to Fenway Park, but I’ve only been able to attend one Opening Day there.
It was in 2019 when I was still working at WACH FOX and I covered Gamecock greats Jackie Bradley Jr. and Steve Pearce receive their 2018 World Series rings. I was fortunate enough to cover Games 1 and 2 of the World Series in Boston six months earlier but man, that Opening Day grass just looked flawless compared to anything during the World Series or any of the other hundreds of times I had been to Fenway Park.
Coincidently, the New England Patriots were also being honored that day for winning their sixth Super Bowl title and another Gamecock great was there – Stephon Gilmore. Gilmore, and a handful of Patriots threw the ceremonial first-pitch out and guess who was Gilmore’s catcher? Yup – JBJ.
My grandfather, Michael Uva – my namesake, passed away on June 22nd of 2018 minutes before I went on air that night at WACH FOX. To this day, it’s one of the toughest moments I’ve experienced, both professionally and just simply put as a man.
The reason I share this is because six months to the day of his death I was standing at Fenway Park on the eve of covering my first World Series. But not only was it my first World Series, but it was at the same park he brought me to my first Red Sox game in the summer of 1997.
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Bill Belichick
UNC hiring legendary coach
- 2New
NCAA Tournament
March Madness looking to expand
- 3
Bodycam footage released
OSU-Michigan brawl police video
- 4Trending
Flag planting felony
Ohio politicians get involved
- 5
Investigating CFP leak
CFP director 'furious'
I was close to catching a foul ball but when you’re six years old and a ball is hit in the air in your direction, you have a better shot of avoiding being blocked by a train your entire life in downtown Columbia. When we got back to his house, he gave me the first baseball he ever caught. It was dated July 18, 1959. That meant he was just 23 years old when he caught it.
Nearly 60 years later, I brought that same ball with me back to Fenway Park to cover the World Series. It was the first time that ball had been in that stadium since that July 18th day in 1959, a ball that was used in a game that Ted Williams played in… even if the Splendid Splinter went 0-for-3 that day with a strikeout.
Today, there’s gonna be a little boy or girl that’s gonna be at Founders Park attending their first baseball game. Years from now, they might remember who won but they likely won’t remember what the score was, or who scored the first run, or recorded the first strikeout. No. But more importantly, they’re gonna create a memory with a loved one or friend that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. I sure did with my grandfather 25 years ago and I’m sure many of you who are reading this have a similar memory too of your first baseball game.
While years may have passed since that memory you’re thinking of, do yourself a favor today and let that little boy or girl in you out. Enjoy the smell of the grass or the sound of the crack of the bat or even that hambone a section over from you complaining about balls and strikes, even though we’re only a couple of pitches into a new season. Forget your troubles and the real-life adult crap you deal with day-to-day to hit the rewind button, just for a day, to become that little boy or girl again who fell in love with the game of baseball.
