What a glorious day

Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Independence Day are all days that 94.728% (a rough estimate) of the people that those holidays apply to look forward to and, hopefully, thoroughly enjoy when they come. For us baseball guys, there’s another day to which that description can be duly prescribed.
“Opening day”, you’re all thinking. “I’ve heard a million times before what a great day it is.” Well, as great as Opening Day may be—nay, as great as Opening Day is—that’s not what I’m here to talk to you about today.
No, today I’m here to talk to you about the day of the first outdoor practice of the season. For those of us not located in Florida, Texas, or California, that day usually comes in late February or early March. At younger/lower levels, the first outdoor practice is usually the same thing as the first practice period. But at older/higher levels, you’ve been going at it for weeks or months by the time you first set foot outside. And that’s probably the very reason why the first outdoor practice has so much more anticipation when you’re older.
You’ve been hitting off of tees and hitting soft tosses and flips in cages so long that you forget what it’s like to hit a ball and see it travel 350 feet—the indoor nets will have none of that. No, inside you’re merely left to wonder: would that have stayed fair or curved foul? Was that headed over the fence? Could the left fielder have gotten to that?
And ground balls, well, you can take as many of them as you want on a smooth rubber/tile/cement floor. But until you have to deal with rocks and mounds and bumps, you’re never quite sure how good you are.
Fly balls are essentially a no go indoors. Sure, you can do a few simulation drills, but with a 75 foot ceiling and the balls being thrown, it’s absolutely positively nothing like that real deal.
But when you get outside, all these what-if’s, all these question marks, turn to yeses or nos.
And best of all, there’s fresh air. There’s grass. There’s dirt. There’s space. There’s….nothing like lacing your spikes up for the first time since fall ball. Nothing like being able to really long toss. Nothing like being able to spit.
Yes, the first outdoor practice is magical, a day of new beginnings and high hopes.