No novelty anymore. And to top it off, it was gray and cold before the game, even though forecasters had promised sunshine and spring weather. So you stuffed all that into your parka before the Tigers' season opener Tuesday, and maybe you packed in some other sour baseball filler, the Alex Rodriguez contract, the Darryl Strawberry fiasco, the fact that nobody except the Yankees seems to have a chance to win anymore. And by this point you were sulking and low, stooped over, ready to write off the whole dang Opening Day tradition as an idea whose time had passed, an anachronism as stale as, well, whenever the Tigers last made the playoffs, if anyone can remember back that far. And you can't help it.
Spring begins again.
I asked Inge as he pulled a blue undershirt over his cherubic face and short, straw-colored hair, and tucked the shirt neatly into his white Tigers pants. The bad part, of course, is that he has to be the starter at all. The Tigers traded last year's catcher, Brad Ausmus, in an off-season deal, and were set to go with newcomer Mitch Meluskey. But Meluskey is suffering from a shoulder injury. Less than a week before Opening Day, he was declared out for the year.