You always get a special kick on opening day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.

DiMaggio frames Opening Day as a perennial renewal of wonder: experience doesn’t dull the thrill, because the season’s beginning carries the promise of possibility. By comparing it to a child’s birthday party, he emphasizes innocence, expectation, and the emotional power of ritual—baseball as both profession and cherished celebration. The final sentence—“You think something wonderful is going to happen”—captures the sport’s narrative engine: every season starts as an open story in which greatness, surprise, and redemption remain plausible. The quote also hints at why baseball sustains devotion: it offers a structured calendar of hope, returning each year with the same invitation to believe.