By Cliff Radel
Cincinnati Enquirer

Oversized commerative bats for Reds officials await presentation in the clubhouse at the Great American Ball Park. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

Nobody does Opening Day better than Cincinnati.

And the Queen City intends to outdo itself today when the Reds officially open the 2003 season and Great American Ball Park.

"Opening Day is such a big deal here because the origins of professional baseball are in Cincinnati," says Arnie Rosenberg, project director responsible for the new ballpark opening on time and under budget. "The Reds are one of the things that hold this community together, and baseball is the harbinger of spring."

Declan Mullen, the ballpark's senior director of operations, has worked in sports facilities in England, as well as Cincinnati.

"I don't know of any city in the world where the first game of a team's season is treated with such reverence," says the native of Derry City in Northern Ireland.

"Opening Day in Cincinnati is a religion," adds Phyllis Karp. The downtown booster and president of Main Auction Galleries numbers among the most faithful. She has missed only six Opening Days since 1926.

The rite of passage that is Opening Day touches on Cincinnati's deep-seated civic pride in the Reds being the first professional baseball team, established 1869, and the town's love of the ball club.

Opening Day - the game and all its festivities, including the Findlay Market Parade - links the past with the present and the future.

Above all, Opening Day offers the promise of rebirth.

On Opening Day, winter officially ends in Cincinnati, no matter what the weather. Spring is here. And hope for a new season stands at the plate, itching to knock the hide off the first pitch.

Today's activities

9 A.M. FOUNTAIN SQUARE RALLY

Former Reds skipper Sparky Anderson appears at Fountain Square to rally the fans.

NOON FINDLAY MARKET PARADE

Grand marshal Tom Browning leads the procession down Race Street.

1:30 P.M. BALLPARK OPENS TO FANS

Players will be taking batting practice inside, and Ted Kluszewski's statue is dedicated outside at 2:00 p.m.

3:15 P.M. CEREMONIES COMMENCE

Pregame ceremonies and speeches. Teams are introduced, followed by the national anthem and ceremonial first pitch by former President Bush.

4:10 P.M. PLAY BALL!

Pitcher Jimmy Haynes has the honor of being first on the mound for the Reds.

On the air: WLW-AM (700), Fox Sports Ohio and ESPN.

Game time weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 48 degrees.