Baseball is back: River Cats put on fireworks in celebration of opening day
Johnny Doskow was ready about the time he crawled out of bed Tuesday morning. It wasn’t just game day. It was Opening Day.
Doskow is the radio voice of the Sacramento River Cats and one of the enduring faces of the Triple-A feeder to the Giants, the very definition of good company. He bounded out his house and arrived at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento well ahead of the season’s first pitch.
Hours and hours early because this gig and game still resonate.
“Oh, I still love this, being here, doing this,” Doskow said in his radio booth high above the field shortly before the River Cats played the Sugar Land Space Cowboys of Texas. “My wife asked me if I was excited. Absolutely! I can’t wait. I got here at 9:45 this morning. Studied the rosters. Walked around. Just soaked it in.”
That’s what baseball does to a man and a fan. First pitch was 6:35 p.m., but Opening Day has been playing in his mind for weeks. Same with scores of fans who were ready to take in some outdoor entertainment in a gem of a venue where there is no shortage of sight lines, food or drink. Those fans were sent happy, with a 7-6 win over Sugar Land thanks to a ninth-inning RBI single from David Villar.
This was Doskow’s 21st season opener for the River Cats, his 24th in Triple-A and his 29th overall. For fans, no masks, no mandates, no restrictions. The cloud of COVID-19 that canceled the 2020 season a year after the River Cats won the Triple-A championship is in the rear-view mirror.
This is a sport geared for the consumer, and they came in droves Tuesday. Long lines snaked outside the gates, starting at 5 p.m., a good many of them in River Cats or Giants garb. The lines were long at the concession stands and the team shop, On Deck, where everyone was treated to a sea of hats, hoodies, shirts, jerseys, jackets, stuffed animals, foam fingers and more. Tuesday marked the first of a five-game homestand, with Friday and Saturday games to finish with fireworks.
“It’s spring and baseball is back, and people are excited,” Doskow said. “What’s the old Rogers Hornsby quote about waiting for the season? ‘I stare out the window and wait for spring.’ One of the unique and rare things is the minors start before the Major League. Just so cool.”
The River Cats were a cool draw from the start. They arrived in town in 2000, a year after winning the Triple-A championship as the Vancouver Grizzlies north of the border. The hero behind the franchise relocation was Art Savage, who dreamed big with Sacramento movers and shakers who also dreamed big, the aim of bringing Triple-A back to the state capitol for the first time since the Sacramento Solons played the sport in a football stadium at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium.
Savage was the president and chief executive officer of the River Cats, a kind man of the people, up to his death in 2008 at 58 after battling lung cancer. A River Cats jersey No. 1 with Savage splashed across the back hangs retired on the left-field fence.
Savage’s son, Jeff Savage, succeeded his mother, Susan Savage, as the CEO of the River Cats last fall. The club maintains a customer-first mantra, and it’s reflective in all the smiles from those pointing drivers in the right spot in the parking lot to ushers to those handing out beers by the handful.
“This is why we come — people are so nice, it’s great weather, it’s a fabulous park, and it’s good, good baseball,” said Jeff Owens, a longtime fan who brought his two young sons along, each wearing Giants and River Cats garb.
Said Linda Evans, a retired educator who brought husband Jim with her, “We’ve been regulars here since the start. It’s just so nice to be here, to see all these people, to see, maybe, the next star of the San Francisco Giants. We’re hooked and we’ve been hooked since the start.”
Baseball also provides a release from everyday stresses of life, or loss of life. There was a moment of silence before the first pitch for those who died from the gang-related mass shooting late Saturday night downtown.
Then it was game time. River Cats prospect Heliot Ramos crushed a first-inning home run, and it was on.
“That was the only play I’ve seen,” said River Cats communications coordinator Maverick Pallack, a man in motion and an example that it takes a ton of work to get a season started without a hitch. He got to the park at 7 a.m.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 7:49 AM.