Terry Francona 'big proponent' of Cincinnati Reds playing in Dayton before Opening Day

Terry Francona made a great first impression with Cincinnati Reds fans on Opening Day in 1987.

In his only season as a Reds player, Francona went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in his first game, helping lead the Reds to an 11-5 victory against his former team, the Montreal Expos, at Riverfront Stadium. His two-run home run in the fourth inning tied the game at 5-5.

“Great opening day,” Francona said. “The next 161 were not so good.”

Asked if he remembered his home run against Expos pitcher Floyd Youmans, Francona said, “Are you kidding me?”

After that 1987 game, Francona told reporters, “All I try to do is hit it hard. Every once in a while, one gets up.”

That memorable moment stands out in the new Reds manager’s memory. The rest of the season isn’t a good memory for Francona. He hit .227 in 107 games. It was the worst season of a 10-year playing career for a .274 career hitter. The next season he hit .311 in 62 games for the Cleveland Indians.

The Reds finished 84-78 in the third full season for Pete Rose as manager.

“I felt bad because I felt like I let Pete down,” Francona said. “He’s the reason I came here as a player, and I felt like I let him down. That bothered me.”

Francona talked about that Opening Day in Dayton on Tuesday, two days before his first Opening Day as Reds manager at Great American Ball Park. The Reds play the San Francisco Giants on Thursday. First they will play a team of top minor league prospects in their final tuneup of the spring at Day Air Ball Park on Tuesday night.

The game marks the start of the 25th season for the home of the Dayton Dragons, the Reds’ Single-A affiliate.

“I actually was a big proponent of us coming here,” Francona said. “I want us to get into kind of a stadium atmosphere where we can take batting practice on the field. We don’t do that in Goodyear. We hit on the backfields. We take the buses over. So I really wanted to do it. And when they said Dayton, I was kind of excited because I know the history and the sellouts and the excitement here. This is a good thing. It looks like the weather’s going to cooperate. So that’s really good.”

Francona had never visited the stadium before Tuesday.

“I thought I’d been just about everywhere,” Francona said, “but when I was in the Midwest League, this wasn’t in the Midwest League.”