While I may be taking a little break from baseball for a few weeks, and as baseball's Opening Day draws nearer and nearer, I'd like to discuss a topic that has elicited quite a passionate discussion. It has made the national network news and has engaged columnists and sports fans for the last month. I'm hoping that some of you will offer up your thoughts on this matter and that we can have an open discussion about it.
At the beginning of Spring Training, Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith teamed up with Budweiser to start a campaign to make Opening Day a national holiday. They started a petition on the White House website and began marketing on social media for people to log on and sign it. Straight from the White House website, this is the summary:
MLB Opening Day is more than just the beginning of the season. It’s a symbol of rebirth. The coming of spring. The return of America's national pastime. It’s a state of mind where anything is possible. You can feel the electricity in the air. Opening Day brings with it the promise of a new beginning. Every fan is in good spirits. It’s a day of celebration. It’s a day of hope. It’s a day that, for generations, has been looked forward to by baseball fans every off-season. It’s an American tradition, and it deserves to be recognized as an American holiday. Join us in our quest to make sure every American can exercise their inalienable right to celebrate the day those two magical words are uttered for the first time: “PLAY BALL!"
Here's a link to the petition site, as well: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/declare-major-league-baseball-opening-day-national-holiday/3XNmgfBb
The White House states that if a petition gets 100,000 signatures in 30 days since posting on their website they are required to respond. As of today, March 27, the petition has accumulated nearly 103,000 signatures. While the White House doesn't state a timeline for their response, Budweiser is lobbying for the President to expedite the response to coincide with the 2014 Opening Day on March 31.
I had first heard of this petition through MLB's Facebook and Twitter pages. I'll admit that I did sign the petition. I thought it was a cute thing to have, but it probably wouldn't realistically happen. However, now that the signature threshold has been crossed and the White House is getting involved, it's serious. And here we are with perfect fodder for a discussion piece; Should baseball's Opening Day be a national holiday?
In my following of this story, I've read some compelling reasons to NOT have it declared a national holiday. First, the US Government loses money on national holidays considering that all government services are shut down. Second, the process for making something a national holiday is very difficult. For example, Thanksgiving wasn't made a national holiday until the 1930's. And, for me, the most significant reason not to do this is that while this effort is going on, MLB has the Opening Day of the 2014 season in Australia. To me, that seems a little hypocritical.
However, the arguments for are rather persuasive. If 22 million people go to Opening Day games, that's more than the population of the state of New York. Considering most of the games on Opening Day are day games, people are already viewing it as a holiday of sorts. Another argument for the holiday is that unlike any other major American sport, baseball is our National Pastime and the steep tradition it has with the growth and prosperity of our nation needs to be recognized.
This is definitely a great discussion topic. So, I pose to all of you: Should baseball's Opening Day be a national holiday?
This weekend is free for me, so I'm going to take advantage of it and go lay on a beach and relax a little. Into next week, however, I'll be preparing for the Cal League 2014 trip to Visalia and Bakersfield.
Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)
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