The email came across on Monday afternoon and it was a beautiful sight for these sore eyes.
"Naturals media day is Monday, April 3," the subject line said.
Glory!
Baseball is back folks, and I know there are people out there just like me that are counting down the days until opening day.
And opening day/night, by the way for Major League Baseball is Sunday with a trio of games lined up including a great rivalry tilt between the St. Louis Cardinals and defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs in the Sunday night game.
Opening day for most teams will be Monday. I'm so excited!
However, as part of the Northwest Naturals coverage team for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, I'll be spending part of opening day at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale as the Naturals host their media day.
By the way, after media day, an open workout for the Naturals will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and available to the general public.
We'll learn more about what kind of team the Naturals will field to start off the 2017 season, which will be the Naturals' 10th season in Northwest Arkansas. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.
It doesn't seem like it's been 10 years since the Wranglers left Wichita, Kan., to become the Naturals, but time flies when you're having fun.
And I don't know about you guys, but my family has definitely had some fun at the Naturals games over the years. We love to load up in the car as a family and go take in as many ballgames as we can. Last spring and summer, we set a new family record for games attended, including some spur of the moment.
Tickets are cheap. There's not a bad seat in the house at Arvest Ballpark. The food is pretty good and relatively inexpensive compared to some ballparks, and the beer is certainly cold.
The baseball is top quality too. The Texas League for years has had a great reputation of producing some of the finest ballplayers in the Major Leagues.
The Naturals open this season at home on Thursday, April 6, against the San Antonio Missions, who are the farm club of the San Diego Padres.
All the teams and affiliations of the league are the same except for one notable change. The Arkansas Travelers, based out of North Little Rock, are now the farm club of the Seattle Mariners after serving as the Double-A team of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2001 to 2016.
The Springfield Cardinals (St. Louis) and Tulsa Drillers (Los Angeles Dodgers) make up the Texas League North Division along with the Naturals and Travs.
The Corpus Christi Hooks (Houston Astros), Frisco RoughRiders (Texas Rangers), Midland RockHounds (Oakland Athletics) and San Antonio make up the TL South.
So settle in, keep your scorebook handy and get ready to enjoy some baseball. This sports reporter certainly will.
-- Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Sports on 03/29/2017