Baseball Season Begins: A Brief History of Opening Day, Party Ideas, and Shop Updates

1950 Wheaties Ad Featuring
Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

Good afternoon and Happy Monday on a beautiful day in New York City! Yesterday, my husband and I took in the "Mad Men" exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. It was great seeing Don Draper's office up close and personal, along with the costumes and props used on the show. The exhibit will be shown until June 14. Our advice is to get there early because the lines are long. Seeing the exhibit coincided with last night's season premiere. The gang at SC&P have entered the '70s, the styles have changed drastically, and our characters are up to their old tricks. 

It's finally spring and with that, baseball season opened last night with the Cubs losing to the Cardinals, and all other teams begin playing today. Opening Day is one of the most anticipated days in the major league's 162-game schedule. From 1876-1989, baseball's first recognized franchise, the Cincinnati Reds, opened the first game of each season. Opening Day has also become an arena for U.S. Presidents to throw the ceremonial first pitch of the season. This tradition started when William Howard Taft attended the home opener in Washington, D.C. Since then, each sitting President has thrown out at least one ceremonial first ball, either for Opening Day, the All-Star Game, or the World Series. Some celebrities have also participated in this ritual. 

Here are some fun facts about Opening Day: 

• Throughout his career, Ted Williams had at least one hit each Opening Day. 
• In 1940, Cleveland ace Bob Feller pitched the only Opening Day no-hitter in Major League history.
• On his first swing of the 1974 season, Hank Aaron hit his 714th career home run, which tied Babe Ruth's record.
• In 1907, there was a major snowstorm during the opening game between the Giants and the Phillies. When the Giants started losing, unruly fans threw snowballs at the umpires.
• The biggest Opening Day margin came in 1955, when the Washington Senators beat the New York Yankees, 19 to 1.
• In 1999, the first Opening Day game played outside the U.S. or Canada took place in Monterrey, Mexico, when the Padres faced the Rockies.

Does a team's performance on Opening Day determine the rest of the season? Probably not. The record for the most Opening Day wins is nine, by the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Brown, and the New York Mets. For a chart of Opening Day results for the National League and American League, consult The Baseball Almanac.

For Las Vegas odds and predictions, please check Bovada Sportsbook.

Baseball Party Idea of the Day: Celebrations at Home hits it out of the ballpark with this baseball-themed baby shower. The food labels and old-fashioned jars of candy gives the party a vintage feel. Ticket-style invitations were sent to the guests. The decor also features a baseball base for pennant labels, a scoreboard centerpiece for the dessert table, and centerpiece "diamonds." No baseball-themed party would be complete without traditional ballpark foods such as popcorn, peanuts, Cracker Jacks, Big League Chew, hot dogs, and nachos.

It's now time to introduce our new baseball-themed games from the shop. First up, we have a baseball trivia game, where party guests test their knowledge of the National Pastime. The sample features the text on a stadium photograph. The title is on a black background, and I used an orange border.

Baseball has a long tradition of colorful nicknames. In this matching game, party guests will correctly identify the player with his nickname. The sample features a red, white, and blue vintage background and a silhouette of a batter. I used a typewriter-style font for the text.

Our next game is a word search called "Perfect Pitch," which features 74 Cy Young Award winners. The sample features a baseball mitt within the grid, used a blue border with a black background. I found a baseball-style font for the title.

Finally, here is a crossword featuring terms used in the game. The sample shown below is for a Father's Day BBQ, and it's on an oak background (similar to the wood used for baseball bats) with a red border.

We can customize all games with your choice of color, font and wording to fit sports-themed parties (e.g., bar/bat mitzvah, birthdays, and showers), bachelor parties, and Father's Day. A great idea would be to use team colors! These game and more can be found in the "Sports and Hobbies" section of the shop.

,

Have a PRINTASTIC day!

Kathy