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The author's attempt to paint the inning by inning progress of the game as an allegory for the team's and city's future will be more convincing to a reader who, like Knight, is a die-hard loyalist to a team. Those outside this realm of American culture may strain to take an interest in the depiction of the game's ups and downs, especially if they are not familiar with the Mariner and Indian players. To stay with this progression of hits, outs, and errors, the reader must accept the original premise that the devout Indian fan's interpretation of one game's result could set the tone for the future if the team, and its relationship with its supporters. Fans of the Red Sox and Cubs, two teams snakebitten by fate even longer than Cleveland, will smile in rueful understanding. What should pull in the attention of all readers are the flashbacks interspersed among the game story. These accounts of several previous opening days in Indian history, the author persuasively argues, were historically significant in their own right, whether because they involved the opening of Cleveland's first two ballparks, or the arrival of new players or managers expected to turn the team's fortunes around.
To Whatever extent fate played a role in the Indian's dramatic late inning, come-from-behind victory that April day ten years ago, it was a positive one in contrast to numerous scenarios since the 1950's when Tribe fans had little to talk about but next year. If Cleveland had not won that day, this book would never have been written, of course. Even a writer as introspective as Knight would not have been able to make a compelling story out of a defeat, no matter how many victories followed in its wake.
The author has written an insightful account of a day when both a team, and its long-suffering fans, broke free from a trying past. Anyone who accepts popular culture as a valid window of historical inquiry will find Opening Day an enlightening read, no matter what their favorite franchise is, or preferred sport. The loyalty Americans invest in their hometown teams will make the book ring a familiar tune far beyond Cleveland.
Andrew Lindsay
History Department
Francis Marion University
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