5 Things You'll Only Ever See at a Baseball Game

Yes, this is just a tad late if I were trying to beat the official start of baseball season, but let's be honest, Seattle and Oakland in Japan doesn't really count, does it? 

I didn't think so. 

In anticipation of Major League Baseball's "opening night" and in celebration of our nation's past time, here's a list of things that you won't see anywhere but the friendly confines of your city's baseball stadium.

Managers Wearing Uniforms

To me, this is the most ridiculous sight of all.  

Middle aged and older, white hair and bellies hanging over their belt—that's the picture of MLB's managers, suited up in the dugout along side their million-dollar athletes.

Why? 

For the love of everything good, can someone please tell me why the likes of Charlie Manuel, Jim Leyland and Dusty Baker are dressed in uniforms?

Everyone makes a big deal about Bill Belichick wearing a Patriots hoodie on the sidelines—imagine if he wore a Patriots jersey and some really tight pants. 

He'd look ridiculous, right? 

How about Stan Van Gundy in a tank top and over-sized, baggy nylon shorts. 

That wouldn't be such a popular look. 

Why is it the norm in baseball?  I'm not sure, but I can guarantee that you won't be seeing it anywhere else.

Sausages, Presidents and More

Have you ever taken in a baseball game in Milwaukee?

How about a Nationals home game?

If you have been to a Brewers home game then you more than likely have been witness to a sausage race.

In our nation's capital, then you've had the pleasure of seeing four of our nation's finest former presidents race.

These are two of the more famous races but there are spin-offs all around the league. 

However, you won't catch replica cheese steaks lace up the skates for a lap around the Wells Fargo Center rink in Philadelphia.

Nor will you catch a 40-yard-dash between rival cars at Ford Field in Detroit. 

Nope, if you want to watch a competition inside of a competition, a race between caricatures, then you better get yourself to a baseball game. 

Players Wearing Jackets While Playing

I understand why Major League pitchers wear jackets on chilly nights. 

However, I can't help but chuckle, just a little bit to myself every time I see a pitcher reach base on a chilly night and then see the bat boy emerge from the dugout, jacket in hand.

The Rangers and Flyers squared off on January 2 at Citizens Bank Park for this season's edition of the Winter Classic. 

It was a frigidly cold day. 

Since tickets were extremely difficult to come by, we moved the television out into the back yard at my brothers house and we watched the game around a fire pit. 

Yes, we cheated, but it was cold.

As cold as it was though, when the players hit the ice, I didn't notice Claude Giroux wearing a jacket.  Mike Rupp tallied his two goals sans coat.

It's not uncommon to see NFL players on the sidelines huddled around a heater and wearing parkas.

But when they step in between the white lines, there's not a single jacket or coat in sight.  Heck, there's barely any long sleeves in sight.  

Yet, on a 60-degree night in September, the bench better know where to find the pitcher's jacket.

Tantrums and Melt Downs

Queue the footage of a dirt-kicking Billy Martin.

Yes, meltdowns are not necessarily unique to baseball, but they have been perfected in ballparks across the country. 

Sure, basketball has some demonstrative players and coaches who've been known to give an earful to the refs, but generally it stops there. 

I don't recall ever having seen Pat Riley take off into the tunnel with the game ball. 

But I have seen Lloyd McClendon rip first base out of the ground and leave with it. 

I don't remember ever catching Dan Marino taking out his frustration on a Gatorade cooler.

But I have seen Carlos Zambrano beat on a cooler like he thought it was Michael Barrett. 

Baseball players and managers have surely taken the art of the meltdown to new heights and you certainly won't see anything rivaling baseball's best anywhere else. 

Double Headers

Double headers, twin bills, call them what you will, but you won't catch any other major sport playing two in a day. 

That's right when time and travel constraints don't mix properly, there is no other option in baseball but to play two games. 

If you've never had the good fortune to take in two games, I'd suggest checking it out. 

Whether its a day-night double header or you get two games for the price of one, there's really nothing like taking in a baseball marathon.

A word to the wise though, don't count on beer sales in the second game.  I've been to two different stadiums where there was either no beer sales or only abbreviated sales in the second game of a two for one.