After a rain-plagued 2015 season at Great American Ball Park, it wouldn’t be baseball without the threat of rain.
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However, the festivities will go on. Here’s a schedule of what to expect Monday:
• 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Reds Community Fund Charity Block Party on Joe Nuxhall Way, Freedom Way and Walnut Street. Admission is free. There will be live music from the Naked Karate Girls.
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Anheuser Busch, Coca-Cola, LaRosa’s and Queen City Sausage will serve food and beverages with proceeds benefiting the P&G Cincinnati MLB Urban Youth Academy. St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Sargento Natural Cheese, Werther’s Original Caramel Popcorn, Budweiser and Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine are also involved in the block party.
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• Noon: 97th Findlay Market Opening Day Parade. Lou Piniella, manager of the 1990 World Series champion Reds, will serve as grand marshal. Some current Reds will make appearances.
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The parade will go back to the standard route this year. It will start at Findlay Market on Race Street and go straight down Race to 5th street, then east on 5th and ending at the Taft Theater.
• 2:10 p.m.: Gates open at Great American Ball Park for the first game of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies. There are several parking lots close to GABP.
Piniella will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Greg Vaughn, the Reds’ star in 1999, will serve as honorary captain. Marlana VanHoose will sing the national anthem for the second straight Opening Day.
An E-2D Hawkeye of he U.S. Navy VAW-120 “Greyhawks” Squadron from Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Va., will perform a pregame flyover. U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH 2nd District) will honor veterans representing our Armed Forces. One hundred local firefighters will unfold a 150-foot by 300-foot American flag during the anthem.
Before the anthem, the Reds will pause to pay tribute to several members of the Reds family who died since the end of last season: longtime scout and cross-checker Jeff Barton; former Negro Leagues player Charles “Whip” Davis; former Reds outfielder Eddie Milner; Reds Hall of Famer Jim O’Toole; and longtime Reds clubhouse manager Bernie Stowe, among others. Players will wear a “Bernie Stowe” patch on their right sleeves this season.
• 4:10 p.m.: The first pitch of the season will be thrown by Raisel Iglesias, who will start for the Reds against the Phillies' Jeremy Hellickson.
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