Opening Day for Shreveport Professional Baseball

Professional baseball in Shreveport goes back to around 1885. It has had it's highs like the Shreveport Captains of the 1990s and the old Sports of the 1950s. It has had its lows and has even had its interruptions. But baseball in Shreveport has always had a special place here that transcends generations.

Over the 122 years of Shreveport baseball history, the game has remained relatively the same. Baseball is one of the few team sports that does not involve a clock. Perhaps that is one reason the game in many ways is timeliness. While the uniforms have changed, the bats are lighter, and most of the games are played at night, there is a continuity of history and respect of the past that brings us forward on several levels into the future.

If you're not careful you can learn a lot watching Shreveport baseball over time. I've watched with a crowd of around 7,000 go crazy over a guy in a chicken suit. I've watched with a "crowd" of 250 thninking about how it really helped my odds winning a prize with my lucky number (and I did too, an album from Sooto Records). I've watched while sitting with one of the fans that had watched since the 1950's and telling me there was a time when we would not be sitting together because he is black and I am white. I've learned much more than baseball.

None of the players can afford to be prima donas and will pay a price if they try. They play hard and have baseball in their hearts.

It promises to be another historic year of some sort for Shreveport baseball. Opening Day is May 14. I'll be hanging around behind home plate. Come, enjoy, be a part of history, perhaps even learn something while simply watching the timeless game of baseball.