Opening Day, Brooklyn 1915
Opening day for baseball transcends the normal excitement felt by all fans when their pastime’s season begins. Because of baseball’s long history and mythology, and because baseball’s spring-summer season, Opening Day symbolizes rebirth and hope. This year’s MLB opening day fittingly fell on Easter Sunday.
There is no confirmation that this photo is from an Opening Day, but the fact that the teams are unfurling a flag in the outfield is a clue. The teams are Brooklyn and Buffalo in the short-lived Federal League which rose to challenge the National and American Leagues in 1915-16. The venue is Washington Park, which had been the home of Brooklyn’s Dodgers until 1913. Rebuilt in steel and concrete, there is a small piece of the outfield clubhouse which is still there on Third Avenue, reputedly the oldest standing piece of a Major League ball park.
Note the advertisement on the outfield wall for BVD underwear and also the partially legible “public service announcement” -
Base Ball Players are all human and therefore lo[….] If you want a >winning team - root for them - spe[…] your friends; and while we >are here, let u[…] so that the ladies may find it pleasant[….]“














