The Perfect Record for Cactus League's Opening Day

Happy opening day, Phoenix!Yes, today is the start of the baseball season. The real start, not the start they'll be celebrating in the upper Midwest next month, the one that requires parkas. It'll be 80 degrees and sunny across the Valley as the first pitch of the year will be...

By Martin Cizmar

February 25, 2009

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Happy opening day, Phoenix!

Yes, today is the start of the baseball season. The real start, not the start they'll be celebrating in the upper Midwest next month, the one that requires parkas. It'll be 80 degrees and sunny across the Valley as the first pitch of the year will be tossed at seven ballparks around the state.

I'll be headed out to Goodyear to see my hometown Cleveland Indians inaugurate their new ballpark and have been wracking my brain all morning trying to pick the perfect car music for the occasion. I have it. I defy you to come up with better baseball music than Tom Petty's Greatest Hits. The 1993 record is chock-full of all-American goodness and sounds like baseball, without any direct tie to some cliche Kevin Costner flick.

"Don't Do Me Like That," "Refugee," "I Won't Back Down," "Runnin' Down a Dream," "American Girl": This album ought to be have a plaque in Cooperstown.

Any other ideas? What album makes you think about baseball? By the way, Bruce Springsteen is disqualified because of his association with New York, and everyone hates thinking about baseball and New York.

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