Opening Day Disappointments

 My wife and I are vacationing in San Diego the last week of March, and the Braves and Padres just so happen to be opening the season that week with a four-game series at Petco Park. I make it sound as if it's all a coincidence. It's not.

The hope was to attend Opening Day. After all, it's like a holiday for baseball fans and how many chances does one get to celebrate such a glorious event in person during his or her lifetime? So for weeks I kept an eye out for what day tickets would go on sale to the public. When that day finally came, I made sure I was in the queue nice and early. And then the baseball gods conspired against me.

It started with my boss approaching me about something while I was just starting to scroll through the menu. Undeterred, I kept looking for those tickets as close as possible to the third base (visitors) dugout and couldn't find them. So I tried using a filter. Nope. In just a matter of minutes (literally, like three minutes), it was either pay $400+ per ticket or choose another game. I chose the latter. I did end up with two good seats (right around first base) to each of Saturday's and Sunday's games. 

My Opening Day disappointment soon had a silver lining. I realized Thursday and Friday would be better spent doing "tourist" things. Should be fewer people at the beach, Zoo, Zoo Safari and Sea World during weekdays. 

I remember pulling into the Walmart parking lot one Saturday morning twenty-something years ago (December 13, 2003, to be exact), and hearing on KTIK (a Boise sports radio station) that outfielder J.D. Drew had been traded to the Braves. I was a fan of J.D. since his time at Florida State, where he won the Golden Spikes Award in 1997, and should have been excited. But I was skeptical of the deal. J.D. was coming off a couple of sub-par seasons (injuries to blame, for sure) and I didn't think the One whom many called the "next Mickey Mantle" coming out of FSU would provide much value. Boy was I wrong. 2004 saw Drew put up the best numbers in his career. He then disappeared during the NLDS against Houston, ending his brief time in Atlanta. Drew left his home-state Braves after the 2004 season for the greener pastures of Los Angeles, where he put in two decent seasons for the Dodgers. Needless to say, I was disappointed that he wasn't resigned and in the 2005 Opening Day lineup. At least we got him in 2005 Topps Opening Day.

Andruw Jones wasn't on the team when 2008 Topps Opening Day went live. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I had been a huge fan of the Curacao Kid since the minor leagues; in fact, he is my second favorite Brave, behind only that other Jones. But as with our San Diego trip, there was a silver lining. AJ signed with those same putrid Dodgers and was horrible. Having been in the majors since the age of 19, Andruw had a lot of wear and tear on the body and was basically done as a regular at 31. Like Drew (with an 'e'), 'Druw received an Opening Day card picturing him in his old uniform. And you know what? I found satisfaction in adding both to my collection.