Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball and most of the minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April. For baseball fans, Opening Day serves as a symbol of rebirth; writer Thomas Boswell once penned a book titled, Why Time Begins on Opening Day. Many feel that the occasion represents a newness or a chance to forget last season, in that the 30 major league clubs and their millions of fans begin with 0-0 records.

For generations, Opening Day has arrived amid pageantry. In Cincinnati, Ohio, home of the sport's first professional team, an annual parade marks an official "city holiday" with young and old alike taking the day off to cheer on the Reds. For decades, the first pitch of every major league season officially took place in Cincinnati. Cincinnati remains the only team who always opens the season with a home game (except in 1990 when the Reds opened the season at the Houston Astrodome). The past decade has brought the introduction of a game televised by ESPN the night before "Opening Day", as well as the staging of season-opening series in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Japan. While these are technically "opening games," Major League Baseball still reserves the title "Opening Day" for the first day in which multiple games are played.

Mr. Bean is a British comedy television programme series of 14 half-hour episodes written by and starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were also written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The pilot episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990, with the last television episode, "Goodnight Mr. Bean" broadcast on 31 October 1995. The final episode, "Hair by Mr. Bean of London", was a video exclusive released on 15 November 1995, but not broadcast in the UK until 2006.

Based on a character originally developed by Atkinson while he was studying for his master's degree at Oxford University, the series follows the exploits of Mr. Bean, described by Atkinson as "a child in a grown man's body", in solving various problems presented by everyday tasks and often causing disruption in the process. Bean rarely speaks, and the largely physical humour of the series is derived from his interactions with other people and his unusual solutions to situations. The series was influenced by physical performers such as Jacques Tati and comic actors from silent films.

Thomas Charles Lasorda (born September 22, 1927 in Norristown, Pennsylvania) is a former Major League baseball player and manager. 2009 marked his sixth decade in one capacity or another with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers organization, the longest non-continuous (he played one season with the Kansas City Athletics) tenure anyone has had with the team, edging Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully by a single season. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997.

He was played by actor Arthur J. Nascarella in the ESPN mini-series The Bronx is Burning.

Tommy Lasorda signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an undrafted free agent in 1945 and began his professional career with the Concord Weavers in 1945. He then missed the 1946 & 1947 seasons because of a stint in the United States Army. He served on active duty from October 1945 until spring 1947.

John Scott "Jack" Morris (born May 16, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He played in 18 big league seasons between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers, and won 254 games throughout his career. Armed with a fastball, slider, devastating splitter and a fierce competitive spirit, Morris was a five-time All-Star (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1991), and played on four World Championship teams (1984 Tigers, 1991 Twins, and 1992 Blue Jays and 1993 with the Blue Jays) . While he gave up the most hits, earned runs and home runs of any pitcher in the 1980s, he also started the most games, pitched the most innings and had the most wins of any pitcher in that decade.

Morris attended Brigham Young University and was drafted by the Tigers in the fifth round of the 1976 draft. He broke into the Tigers' pitching rotation in 1979, posting a 17-7 record and a 3.29 ERA and establishing himself as the ace of the Detroit staff. Morris, along with catcher Lance Parrish, shortstop Alan Trammell, second baseman Lou Whitaker, and manager Sparky Anderson, played a notable role in turning the Tigers into a contending team for most of the 1980s.

William Oliver Ripken (born December 16, 1964 in Havre de Grace, Maryland) is an American radio personality for XM Satellite Radio, a studio analyst for MLB Network's "MLB Tonight," and is a former infielder in Major League Baseball from 1987–1998. He threw and batted right-handed.

When Ripken made his major league debut on July 11, 1987, it marked the first time a father has managed two sons on the same team. Ripken played alongside his brother, Cal Ripken, Jr. and was managed by his father, Cal Ripken, Sr. as a member of the Baltimore Orioles from 1987–1988. When all three Ripkens appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on May 2, 1988, the Orioles had lost their first 18 games of the season (they would lose three more before collecting their first win against the Chicago White Sox), and the photo was used in an emblematic fashion to symbolize frustration at the team's struggles.

Ripken remained with the team through the 1992 season and returned for a short stint later in his career (1996). While Ripken came up to the Majors as a second baseman, he did play two games at third in 1988. During the latter part of his career with the Texas Rangers (1993-1994, 1997) Cleveland Indians (1995) and Detroit Tigers (1998) he became a utility infielder-- playing every position on the infield, except catcher.