What: Reds Opening Day vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Where: Great American Ball Park, 100 Joe Nuxhall Way
When: First pitch: 4:10 p.m. today
TV/Radio: Fox Sports Ohio/WLW 700
First pitch: “The Captains,” David Concepcion and Barry Larkin, will throw out simultaneous first pitches
Tickets: Sold out
During one of his 11 seasons in the Major Leagues, Thomas “Tank” Howard, of Middletown, said he played in three Opening Days, twice on the road and at Jack Murphy Stadium as a member of the San Diego Padres.
There were plenty of memorial Opening Days, like in 1993 when, as a Cleveland Indian, Howard started the season a week after two of his teammates were killed in a boating accident during Spring Training.
But he also remembers 1994, when he opened the season with the Cincinnati Reds, the oldest franchise in baseball, where Opening Day is a holiday. When he was introduced before the game, and he joined the likes of Tom Browning, Barry Larkin, Deion Sanders and Manager Davey Johnson along the first-base line, Howard’s mind flashed back to the years when he skipped school to attend Reds Opening Days.
“That was just special because I was home,” said Howard, 49, who graduated from Valley View High School before he earned an athletic scholarship to Ball State University. “Man, I just lived less than an hour from the park. It was like my life had gone full circle. When I looked into the stands and saw those kids, I knew they had skipped school, and they dreamed about playing for the Reds. That was just like me.”
For a much different reason, he remembers Opening Day 1993. As he discussed that time in his life, Howard said he got “the chills.” During an off-day on March 22, 1993, three Indians players — Steve Olin, Tim Crews and Bob Ojeda — went boating and Olin and Crews were killed when the boat crashed. For two days during Spring Training, no one said a word on the field. The only sound came from bats and balls, Howard said. Even the workers in the stadium were silent.
“It was one of the wildest times ever for me in baseball,” he said. “There were no voices, no sounds, nothing.”
When the season started, Howard said, “You didn’t know whether to be happy because there were too many emotions. You knew that your teammates didn’t arrive with you to Opening Day. That was real life, not baseball.”
His dream of playing for the Reds began during those Opening Days when he skipped school and everyone knew he was at the game. He was there with hundreds of other kids, all whom dreamed of one day playing for the Reds. After three seasons with the Padres, Howard was traded to the Indians in 1992. He played there for two seasons, then was traded to the Reds for Randy Milligan on Aug. 17, 1993.
He was preparing to play that night when he was called into the manager’s office. His family, including her mother, Bev Howard, were staying in Cleveland, and Howard called her and said he had been traded.
“What?” his mother asked. “Where?”
“Cincinnati,” he told her.
He said he wanted his mother at Riverfront Stadium to celebrate his homecoming. She packed a few bags, loaded her grandchildren in the car and made the four-hour drive from Cleveland to Cincinnati in time for the game that night.
Meanwhile, when Howard landed at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, and was picked up by a Reds executive, he was told he had to shave his beard and mustache because the team had a “no facial hair” policy. So he walked into the airport bathroom, and shaved.
He played two seasons for the Reds and finished his career with the Houston Astros, Los Angles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals. He retired on Oct. 1, 2000.
Throughout his career, whenever his team played in Cincinnati, he frequently visited his family and brought ballplayers along for a home-cooked meal prepared by his grandmother, Beatrice Thompson, now 94. He also left with a box or two of cookies and brownies from his mother. During those Middletown visits, Bev Howard said, there was only one rule for family and friends: They had to respect the players’ privacy.
“Just like they were the next door neighbor,” she said. “We didn’t want to bother them.”
Howard will be part of the new exhibit at the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum entitled, “Hometown Reds: Local Boys Who Played for the Cincinnati Reds.” The exhibit features jerseys, game-used equipment and memorabilia dating back 145 years to 1869 when Charlie Gould became the first Cincinnatian to play for the hometown team.
“If you are from the Cincinnati area and played baseball at any age, you probably dreamed of playing for the Reds,” said Rick Walls, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum. “Our new exhibit honors the 104 players whose dreams became a reality.”
The exhibit includes a player mural along with a graphic map highlighting the towns in southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana from which the Hometown Reds hailed.
Fans can explore “Hometown Reds: Local Boys Who Played for the Cincinnati Reds” along with the other new exhibit for 2014, “Kings of the Queen City,” presented by Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in addition to 15,000 square feet of historical, interactive and educational exhibits, highlighting the rich and storied tradition of the Reds for fans of all ages.
About the Author