It’s finally here, the home opener for the Connecticut Tigers at the Thomas J. Dodd Stadium.

I love a baseball Opening Day and haven’t missed one yet at Dodd Stadium. The Tigers actually started the season on Friday with a three-game series at the Lowell Spinners, the Red Sox affiliate in the New York-Penn League. The Tigers, of course, are affiliated with the Detroit Tigers.

If you need a reminder of that, just think of Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline, the Hall of Fame outfielder with 3,000+ hits and 399 home runs.

The Connecticut Tigers second baseman, Colin Kaline, is his grandson. Connecticut Tigers’ third baseman Matt Perry is the son of Ron Perry, star basketball player at the College of the Holy Cross University and now a college basketball broadcaster.

So those names might be familiar. The Tigers also feature 10 college and high school players drafted last week in the Major League draft. They put on professional baseball uniforms for the first time this week and are eager to prove their worth.

And if you want another enticing story, there’s manager Andrew Graham, who is starting his own professional managerial career here. He’s 29 and Australian.

The real first pitch Monday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. in a game against the Tri-City Valley Cats, the Houston Astros affiliate. But of course with Opening Day comes pregame ceremonial first pitches by local dignitaries.

Oh yeah, there’s fireworks following the game on Opening Day too. But for me, baseball is always the real attraction. The series continues Tuesday and Wednesday, also starting at 7:05 p.m.

I’ll be sitting on the first base side, at the end of the dugout. Hope to see you there.