Opening Day- Always A Holiday In The Kentera Family
As we approach Opening Day this Thursday at Petco Park to open the 2019 baseball season, it always rekindles memories from my childhood growing up in San Diego. I had the good fortune of watching the Pacific Coast League Padres at Westgate Park, and then their lone season at San Diego Stadium and loved every minute of it. When the Padres were granted their Major League franchise, I was beyond excited and couldn’t wait for the 1969 baseball season to get started. I was 10 years old and my brother Bill surprised me with purchasing tickets for the very first Opening Day and the first game in Padres Major League history on Tuesday night April 8th. He and his wife Michele picked me up at my elementary school at 3:00 pm and we headed to Balboa Park for a brown bag sack lunch, and the only thing I could think of was getting to the ballpark to see my Padres. Back in those days, games did not start until 8:00 pm and I was very impatient and really couldn’t enjoy myself at Balboa Park. I was really a pain to this young married couple and finally they decided to head to the park. We arrived at 6:00 pm and the parking lot looked like a ghost town but I didn’t care. I was where I wanted to be. The gates opened and I couldn’t get to my seat fast enough. The Houston Astros were taking batting practice and I was glued to every swing they took. Both teams took infield practice and I couldn’t take my eyes off the field trying to learn as much as I could.
Finally the game started, and in the first inning the Astros scored to take an early one-run lead. It stayed that way until the bottom of the 5th inning with one out. Former St. Louis Cardinals 3rd basemen Ed Spiezio blasted a home run into the left-field stands to tie the game at one apiece. In the 6th inning, Ollie Brown tagged an RBI double to bring home Roberto Pena in what proved to be the winning run. Right-hander Dick Selma pitched a complete game that night for the Padres, allowing 5 hits and 1 run, while walking 2 and striking out 12. The final score was 2-1 Padres in front of 23,370 and the game time was 2 hours and 14 minutes.
I'm looking forward to Thursday when left-hander Eric Lauer takes the mound for the Padres, and matching up against San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner at 1:10 at Petco Park.
Special baseball show Thursday Morning 9-12 on 97.3 The FanI will be doing a special 3 hour show Thursday morning 9:00 am to 12:00 pm From the Social Tap at 815 J Street.Hopefully you will stop by and say hello heading into Petco Park.
Coach Kentera@coachkentera44