“Don’t tell me about the world. Not today. It’s springtime and they’re knocking baseballs around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curveball.”
— Pete Hamill
It’s gone by faster than a double play. For 10 years, Toledo Free Press has marked Mud Hens Opening Day with what’s become the biggest and most comprehensive guide published in the market. We understood from our first season Downtown how important the Hens are to Toledo’s identity and spirit, and we have taken great care to share their successes and challenges with our readers.
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As illustrator Don Lee has captured on this week’s cover, Muddy is expanding his pop culture reach beyond “Star Wars” to incorporate the Ghostbusters in his promotional plans for family fun. Opening Day at Fifth Third Field has become one of the area’s biggest events; every seat will be filled, the suites and hallways will overflow with excited fans and the Huron-Monroe-Washington-St. Clair streets block will hum with foot traffic and activity.
There is truly nothing to match a clear, sunny day at the ballpark. It’s a family event; it’s a guys’ day out; it’s a girls’ night out; it’s smells and sights and emotions that no other public gathering can evoke with such clarity and impact. Baseball can be a few hours’ escape from the travails of life like no other pastime — movies, books, theater, music — can offer. That distinct crack of the ball on the bat and the undeniable thump of the ball in the glove are symphonies, car chases and page turners wrapped in one fluid, unrestrained-by-the-clock afternoon.
Mud Hens Opening Day rocks. The streets around Fifth Third Field are alive with excited conversation, live music and the buzz of people filled with optimism and pride.
This year’s Toledo Free Press Opening Day issue, compiled and edited by Managing Editor Sarah Ottney, positively thrums with the vibrations of a new season. We are grateful to our staff, advertisers, readers and the Mud Hens organization for helping to make this issue one of our biggest and best of the year.
Our 2013 Mud Hens Opening Day Guide was recognized by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists as one of the best special sections in the state, and we have set an even higher standard for the coverage and look of this year’s guide. We take pride in our home team, and we will continue to show that by offering the best Opening Day coverage we can, this season and every season. See you at the game!
Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.
