CINCINNATI — Rocky Grace might have gone out on a high note if he stopped cheering for the Reds after their World Series win in 1975. He was 18 then, straight out of high school, and the entire city hummed with the energy of the Big Red Machine.
He could have quit while the team was ahead — before the ignominious early ‘80s, long stretch of losing seasons in the aughts and historically bad 2018 season start.
But that’s not what being a fan is about, he said on Opening Day Thursday.
“I’ll love the Reds forever,” Grace said.
He and thousands more fans swarmed The Banks sporting the Reds jerseys, hats and temporary tattoos to prove it. The heady mix of the team’s 150th anniversary, hometown fandom and the off-season injection of new blood in the form of players like Yasiel Puig stoked their enthusiasm even after the disheartening 2018 season.
And, when the gates of Great American Ballpark opened, that enthusiasm was rewarded with a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“The fandemonium going on in there, it felt like we were at WrestleMania,” fan Eric Jones said. “It was live, and we were going to pull it out.”
A season-opening win was a welcome change from 2018’s season-opening shutout loss to the Washington Nationals, and it gave Jones the chance to say something Reds fans rarely can: “We’re undefeated.”
And although winning is only part of the package for Grace, who remembers the Reds’ 20th century glory days, he said he has high hopes for the season ahead.
“You bring in Puig, Kemp, new pitchers — it brings a new excitement,” he said. “This just brings, you know, everything new. You want to come to the ballpark.
Not to jinx the possibility of a winning season, but: “It would be nice. It would. We deserve it. We’ve suffered in last place for five years. I think it’s time for us.”
