While the Opening Day parade has for decades now been a cool little “uniquely Cincinnati” event folks look forward to every year, there is a newer Opening Day tradition that's beginning to rival it in terms of sheer baseball pomp and pageantry. For the past several years, local Folk and Americana experts Jake Speed & the Freddies have hosted a baseball-themed show the morning before the Reds season’s first pitch downtown at Arnold’s, and once again this spring's version is bigger and better.
Speed & Co’s full set of baseball-themed, Folk-flavored songs is the heart of the event, but the fun little extras — like “Casey at the Bat” and "Who's on First?" performed/read by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company actor Jeremy Dubin, peanuts and Cracker Jacks at every table, appearances by members of the vintage baseball recreators the 1869 Red Stockings and, of course, former Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell (dressed as Peanut Jim!) — make it more thrilling than back-to-back inside-the-park homeruns. (Another thrill: It’s all free, so you can save your pennies for beer money.)
The excitement starts at 9:30 a.m. and is sponsored by WNKU (89.7 FM) and Christian Moerlein. Even if you can’t make it downtown, you can join in on the festivities from anywhere: WNKU (also streaming at www.wnku.org) is carrying every pitch, hit and run from Arnold’s as it happens.
Get event and Arnold's details here.
