Following in the footsteps of Frank Robinson, Josh Hamilton could forever be the one who got away from the Reds. But the reason Hamilton was deemed expendable (wrongly, in retrospect) keeps popping up, while Robinson’s exile is still a mystery.   

What's always impressed me about Cincinnati, as someone who didn't grow up here, is how the whole city embraces baseball and the Reds on Opening Day. It's another of those small ways that locals have stubbornly held on to a collective individuality, as quirky as three-way chili and "Please?" Baseball is the only American sport with any romance, so it's not surprising that Cincinnatians bond with the Reds.