{"id":664113,"date":"2026-04-05T05:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/664113\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T05:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:38:25","slug":"mitch-albom-detroit-opening-day-tradition-embraces-the-local-perfectly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/664113\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitch Albom: Detroit Opening Day tradition embraces the local perfectly"},"content":{"rendered":"

To many people, it makes no sense. Here was the seventh game of a 162-game baseball season, the Detroit Tigers<\/a> had lost four of the six already played, yet seemingly the entire city converged on downtown Friday, April 3, to get into the stadium, or sit outside the stadium, or just hang around the stadium.<\/p>\n

They stuffed bars and restaurants. They drank beer despite the early hour. They wore orange or blue clothing and caps with an Old English “D.” There is no way to count how many total people swarmed the streets, or how many of them had called in sick to their jobs to be here.<\/p>\n

1 \/ 3<\/p>\n

Tigers fans flock downtown Detroit for Opening Day 2026<\/p>\n

With an inflated tiger in the background Matthew Suisse, 36, of Waterford fills a cup with Leinenkugel Summer Shandy from a keg for a friend before the Detroit Tigers take on the St. Louis Cardinals for opening day at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1 \/ 3<\/p>\n

Tigers fans flock downtown Detroit for Opening Day 2026<\/p>\n

With an inflated tiger in the background Matthew Suisse, 36, of Waterford fills a cup with Leinenkugel Summer Shandy from a keg for a friend before the Detroit Tigers take on the St. Louis Cardinals for opening day at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2 \/ 3<\/p>\n

Tigers fans flock downtown Detroit for Opening Day 2026<\/p>\n

Natalie Clor, 31, of Harper Woods lifts up her 15-month-old Juliette as they tailgate in Detroit before the Detroit Tigers take on the St. Louis Cardinals for opening day at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3 \/ 3<\/p>\n

Tigers fans flock downtown Detroit for Opening Day 2026<\/p>\n

Jeff Trotter of Macomb launches a corn hole bean bag while he tailgates with friends before the Detroit Tigers take on the St. Louis Cardinals for opening day at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

SCENE AND HEARD: ‘A different atmosphere’: Tigers fans flock Detroit for Opening Day<\/a><\/p>\n

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We call it Opening Day, and in Detroit it is virtually a holiday. Not elsewhere. Other cities don\u2019t make this fuss. To many of them, going wild for the seventh game of the season makes no sense.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n

In fact, it\u2019s perfect.<\/p>\n

Far from the only nonstandard tradition<\/p>\n

Opening Day made me think about how many things we do around these parts that are uniquely ours, traditions that we cherish but which don\u2019t necessarily travel.<\/p>\n

The Dream Cruise. It began as a charity event, and is now is a fixture on the August calendar. But if you tell someone in Boston or San Diego that thousands of people sit in lawn chairs along a busy boulevard to watch old cars drive past, you\u2019ll get laughed out of the room.<\/p>\n

\"Natalie<\/p>\n

Natalie Clor, 31, of Harper Woods, lifts up her 15-month-old Juliette as they tailgate in Detroit before the Detroit Tigers take on the St. Louis Cardinals for Opening Day at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

THE GAME: Dillon Dingler, Framber Valdez launch Tigers to home opener win<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Independence Day Fireworks. Yes, other cities have them. No, they don\u2019t have them in late June. We do. Supposedly we do this because of our proximity to Canada, which celebrates on a different schedule. Of course, Canada Day is July 1, and America\u2019s holiday is July 4, so someone should explain how June got in there.<\/p>\n

But, hey, maybe they shouldn\u2019t. It\u2019s our tradition. And that\u2019s what\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

Sweetest Day. Hate to break this to area lovers, but that\u2019s not really a thing in the most of the country.<\/p>\n

Paczki Day \u2013 yes, it\u2019s a way to celebrate Fat Tuesday, but it\u2019s much bigger here in the Midwest than in other regions.<\/p>\n

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The Charity Preview at the Detroit Auto Show. That\u2019s like the Motor City\u2019s Met Gala, but it doesn\u2019t exist elsewhere. And auto shows in general are not the must-see events they are in our town.<\/p>\n

Traditions like throwing octopi at hockey games, singing \u201cborn and raised in South Detroit!\u201d chanting \u201cOnward Down the Field\u201d when the Lions score or yelling \u201cDEEE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALLLLLL!\u201d are things you will not witness anywhere else.<\/p>\n

And it may be a hot dog everywhere else, but it\u2019s a coney here.<\/p>\n

If all of this makes us quirky, well, quirky we should be. Because in a world of increasing homogenization, local traditions are in peril.<\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/p>\n

Fans party at the Hamlin Pub in Detroit as the Detroit Tigers take on the St. Louis Cardinals for Opening Day at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

A taste for tradition<\/p>\n

Consider what the internet and multinational corporations desire. Everyone on the same page at the same time.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Apple wants the whole world to line up at a given hour for the new iPhone. Taylor Swift wants the whole world hanging on her latest release. Local coffee shops get swallowed by chains. Local eateries surrender to fast food.<\/p>\n

As someone who travels for work, I can tell you, decades ago when you went to the South, you heard different music on the radio. You went out West, you saw different retail outlets. You felt like an outsider. You felt like you were someplace new and wondrous.<\/p>\n

Today, Nashville looks like Austin looks like Raleigh looks like Phoenix. There\u2019s your P.F. Chang\u2019s next to your Cheesecake Factory. There\u2019s your Best Buy alongside your Costco. The goal of global economies is scale, big numbers, national \u2013 even international – audiences. Everyone wants to be the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

But what of the joy of regional customs? Local traditions? The food you can only get here, the music you can only hear there. As the internet shrinks our distance, it also fades our individuality.<\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/p>\n

Fans take a photo next to an Opening Day sign as the Detroit Tigers host the St. Louis Cardinals at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

When I was a kid in Philadelphia, they had a parade every New Year\u2019s Day, where string bands marched and people wore these crazy costumes, painted their faces, and competed in different categories. It was called the Mummers Parade, and in my youthful naivete, I thought every city did this. Later I realized it was unique to Philly, and in fact, many outsiders found it silly.<\/p>\n

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Well, as Paul McCartney sang, it isn\u2019t silly at all. Local color shades who we are. Local activities give us a sense of identity. Local traditions bind us to our hometowns, and our shared memories with neighbors.<\/p>\n

So we can ask \u201cDid you go to Opening Day?\u201d around here and people know what we mean. There\u2019s something precious about that. In an age of everyone buying from Amazon and eating at McDonald’s, we should fiercely protect what makes us unique.<\/p>\n

So yeah, wearing a \u201cTrammell\u201d jersey or telling your friends, \u201cI\u2019ll meet you at Mario\u2019s before the game for the lobster buffet\u201d may make no sense to outsiders. Good. It\u2019s not supposed to.<\/p>\n

Contact Mitch Albom:\u00a0malbom@freepress.com<\/a>. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at\u00a0MitchAlbom.com. Follow @mitchalbom\u00a0on x.com.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers Opening Day tradition may be crazy, but it’s OUR crazy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To many people, it makes no sense. Here was the seventh game of a 162-game baseball season, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[5,10081,27367,147,84642,53,2583,1390,4,1406,84643,84641,594,7847],"class_list":{"0":"post-664113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-tigers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-baseball-season","10":"tag-canada-day","11":"tag-detroit","12":"tag-detroit-auto-show","13":"tag-detroit-tigers","14":"tag-detroittigers","15":"tag-dillon-dingler","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-opening-day","18":"tag-paczki-day","19":"tag-sweetest-day","20":"tag-tigers","21":"tag-tradition"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116350493091658695","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}