Today was a continuation of a family tradition: Opening Day. The rush of cars into the Angel Stadium of Anaheim parking lot in the early afternoon singled the official start of the major league baseball season.

Since I couldn’t stay for the whole game (I don’t get paid enough, I probably should have stayed) I went to the ballpark at 5:30 just to catch a little bit of batting practice, pre-game festivities, and warm-ups. Out in the parking lot the New-Era Cap Company had a trailer with a display of the 22 stages in the production of their ball caps. It was one of those neat, “how do they do that” type of things. One plus of waiting through the line was receiving a custom baseball card. Some of us in line joked that it reminded us of waiting in line at Disneyland.

Anaheim took on the dreaded ten-ton gorilla of baseball, the New York Yankees, in their home stand debut. Just to rub it in the faces of the Yankees (just a little bit), the Angels hoisted their 2005 Division Champs banner in the outfield. Wally Joyner threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the season. Anaheim’s own and Former American Idol contestant Lisa Tucker sung the national anthem and a fly over of Navy F-16s rocked the place.

Vlad blasting the cover off the ball got the scoring off to a start and the Angels went on to win. What a way to start the season: A record crowd of 44,221 and a victory at home over the Yankees.