Forget the equinox — in Detroit, spring officially begins with Tigers Opening Day, a cherished tradition of baseball, hot dogs and community spirit.
Allegedly, March 20 was first day of spring. In Detroit, we know better, don’t we? And we have a citywide holiday to prove it — Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers, the first home baseball game of the season.
Some people still believe that spring is based upon some theory about where the Earth is in its orbit around the sun. Since 1901, however, usually in early- or mid-April, Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers is the unofficial, official first day of spring and, perhaps, the foremost civic holiday of the year.
Spring begins this year when the umpire cries “Play ball” at Comerica Park. No matter the weather, we’ll have a full house at the stadium, just as we always filled its predecessor and local baseball shrine, Tiger Stadium (and its predecessor, Briggs Stadium … and before that, Navin Field … and before that, Bennett Park).
After a long, cold Michigan winter, the loyal fans of the Detroit Tigers are eager for the first game of baseball, our first stadium hot dog and, yes, our first overpriced beer. Moreover, we are prepared to brave cold temperatures, gale force winds, driving rain, and in April in Michigan, the possibility of snow.
No sacrifice is too great to be at the game. We may take a vacation day; we may skip school, or we may just have to call our boss and declare a sudden illness — “I can’t make it in today, boss. I’ve, ahh, hmm … I’ve got the plague! Yeah, that’s it, the plague. Came down with it last night.”
If we are not among the privileged fans who have tickets to the game, well, we have our radios or we will stream the game through our computers (sometimes while on the job. Shhh — don’t tell anyone).
Opening Day in Detroit is also a great melting pot. One’s religion or ethnicity or politics do not matter. We are all Tigers fans together. Jewish fans in Detroit, however, have had the special privilege of watching one of their own, the best Jewish player to ever put a bat to a baseball: Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg.
The first traditional Opening Day in Detroit was on April 25, 1901. It was the debut for the Detroit Tigers in the American League. With a standing-room-only crowd of 10,000, the tradition of sellouts began. The game itself was a beauty. Trailing the Milwaukee Brewers by a score of 13-4, the Tigers rallied in the bottom of the ninth and won 14-13. Frank “Pop” Dillon’s two-run double saved the day.
This 1901 debut also makes 2026 a special season for the Tigers. It’s the 125th anniversary of Detroit’s Major League team receiving their franchise charter.
So, forget all that stuff about the sun crossing the celestial equator and the March equinox indicating it’s the first day of spring. You’ll know it’s spring around 1 p.m. on April 3 when the sun passes over Comerica Park, the Tigers starting pitcher throws the first ball, and for about three hours, all is right in the world.
Want to read more about the Detroit Tigers and Detroit’s Jewish community? The Davidson Digital Archive holds more than 1,400 pages of Tigers’ stories.
As always, I’m wishing for a World Series in Detroit in 2026! Play ball! And pass along one of those stadium dogs.
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