To every baseball fan, Opening Day is the biggest regular season game of the year. Michael Ortman never missed it, not once, for 50 years.
Opening Day: 50-for-50 is a baseball tribute like no other—a well-researched work of love representing a half-century of great stories and historical context linked to each of those 50 days. This emotional journey connected three cities, six stadiums, five home teams, and four generations, from his dad who pulled him out of school one day in 1970 to see their Washington Senators, to his grandson and their shared experiences decades later.
Along the way, Ortman encountered five U.S. presidents and more than 50 future Hall of Fame players, coaches, and broadcasters: from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, from Brooks Robinson to Max Scherzer, from Earl Weaver to Joe Torre, and from Harry Caray to Harry Kalas. The streak traveled with his life and survived family events, baseball’s labor unrest, and the 33-year absence of a hometown team.
