--- title: Baseball Opening Day: See Classic Vintage Photos description: Celebrate the kick-off of the Major League Baseball season on April 3, 2016, with these classic opening day photos from the LIFE archives. canonical: https://time.com/4266493/baseball-opening-day-photos/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-01T12:00:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:14.832Z og:title: See the Greatest Vintage Photos of Baseball's Opening Day og:description: Celebrate the kick-off of the Major League Baseball season on April 3, 2016, with these classic opening day photos from the LIFE archives. og:url: https://time.com/4266493/baseball-opening-day-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d14b3ad1f835e85/69888bdb524fc05ffcdf7463/160321-baseball-opening-day-07.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Baseball Opening Day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the Greatest Vintage Photos of Baseball's Opening Day twitter:description: Celebrate the kick-off of the Major League Baseball season on April 3, 2016, with these classic opening day photos from the LIFE archives. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d14b3ad1f835e85/69888bdb524fc05ffcdf7463/160321-baseball-opening-day-07.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the Greatest Vintage Photos of Baseball's Opening Day  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 1, 2016 12:00 PM CUT  Milwaukee fans react to a play on the field on opening day, 1957. Milwaukee fans react to a play on the field on opening day, 1957.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 1, 2016 12:00 PM CUT Some welcome springtime for its flowering trees, chirping birds and melting snow. For others, the season has one purpose, and that purpose is baseball. Every year around the beginning of April, the grass is groomed, the hot dog buns are replenished and the crowds return for another season of Major League Baseball. Not only were heads of state and stars of Hollywood staples at the festivities—but so, too, were LIFE Magazine’s photographers. As anticipation builds for this year’s opening day on April 3, here are those photographers’ greatest images of the perennial excitement the season opener brings. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined")_._  Players huddle on Chicago-Pittsburgh opening day, 1947. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Rapt attention from the crowd at Chicago-Pittsburgh opening day, 1947. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Throngs of fans at opening day in Cincinnati, 1957. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Players sing the national anthem on opening day in Cincinnati, 1957. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A young Cincinnati fan watches an exciting play, 1957. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fans at opening day of baseball, Milwaukee, 1957. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Milwaukee fans react to a play on the field on opening day, 1957. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fans at Dodgers opening day, Los Angeles, 1958. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  San Francisco Giant Willie Mays on opening day, 1958. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A quiet moment during the Dodgers' opening day in 1958. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  TV actress Juli Reding talks with Dodger outfielder Elmer Valo on opening day, 1958. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  President John F. Kennedy attends opening day at the new D.C. stadium. 1962. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fans take cover under umbrellas on opening day in Washington, D.C., 1962. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reactions in the crowd, opening day in Washington D.C., 1962. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  New York Yankees Roger Maris (second from left), Mickey Mantle (fifth from left) and Yogi Berra (ninth from left) stand in line with other Yankees during the playing of the National Anthem on opening day, 1962. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Owner of the Mets Joan Payson and player Duke Snider on opening day at the Polo Grounds, 1963. Herb Scharfman—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Pre-game at the Atlanta Braves' opening day, 1966. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A message to the crowd at the Atlanta Braves' opening day, 1966. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Excited Braves fans, 1966. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  President Richard Nixon throws out the first pitch as manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and manager Ralph Houk of the New York Yankees look on before opening day on April 7, 1969 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4266493/baseball-opening-day-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4266493/baseball-opening-day-photos/"},"headline":"See the Greatest Vintage Photos of Baseball's Opening Day","datePublished":"2016-04-01T12:00:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:14.832Z","description":"Anticipation has always been high for the first pitch after a long winter","url":"https://time.com/4266493/baseball-opening-day-photos/","keywords":["Sports topic","Baseball","photography","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d14b3ad1f835e85/69888bdb524fc05ffcdf7463/160321-baseball-opening-day-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d14b3ad1f835e85/69888bdb524fc05ffcdf7463/160321-baseball-opening-day-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Baseball Opening Day","caption":"Fans at opening day of baseball, Milwaukee, 1957.","creditText":"Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4266493/baseball-opening-day-photos/","name":"See the Greatest Vintage Photos of Baseball's Opening Day"}}]}] ```