MLB Opening Day denied national holiday status
By Hayden Kane
Major League Baseball will open another season this Monday. Granted, there were games in Australia and there will be an opening game Sunday night, but really, Opening Day is Monday.
That is the day when baseball rules, with games all day and each fan guaranteed a chance to see their squad in action for the first time.
With that in mind, Budweiser famously paired with St. Louis Cardinals great Ozzie Smith this spring to file a petition to actually turn Opening Day into a national holiday. The effort was appreciated, but those who signed the petition were notified tonight that their favorite day of the year will not be recognized officially.
Here is the email sent to fans by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest (provided by Matt Snyder of CBS Eye on Baseball):
"Thanks for your petition and your participation in We the People.For more than a century, American presidents have celebrated Opening Day — from President William Taft’s 1910 first pitch from the stands, to President Obama toeing the rubber at Nationals Park in 2010.Opening Day signals a new beginning, not only for the 30 Major League Baseball teams playing for their shot at a title, but for the millions of fans who will follow the 162-game journey — from “Play ball!” through the last out. That includes President Obama, who will be rooting for his White Sox to go all the way.While we are sympathetic to your pitch to make Opening Day a national holiday, it’s a little outside our strike zone: creating permanent federal holidays is traditionally the purview of Congress. So, it’s up to the men and women on Capitol Hill to decide whether to swing at this pitch.To celebrate Opening Day, we’ll be honoring the 2013 World Series champions, the Boston Red Sox, here at the White House on Tuesday.Meanwhile, I’ll spend that day visualizing what it would be like to welcome my 2014 World Series Champion Kansas City Royals to the White House. That is, after all, the best part of Opening Day: every team is tied for first place and poised to make a run at the Fall Classic.”"
Well alright then. If baseball fans were being honest, we had to know that Opening Day was never going to become a national holiday ahead of the Monday after the Super Bowl.