Wayne Graczyk used to refer to these games as the lid lifter, and even after all this time I can’t think of a Giants home game at Tokyo Dome without seeing Wayne in my mind’s eye on the sideline.

Wayne’s world

We all miss you so much, from asking whether I brought a bento or whether I would eat in the media salon, “the chow hall” or go out for something to checking to see whether I brought coffee or not since he’d stopped at Mr. Donuts in Kichijoji and brought me my “Jim Allen Special” — a plain old fashioned.

Opening Day is always special and Wayne always made it more so. So today, all of us honor you, because like so many of the wonderful kind and hard-working players and coaches who came to Japan to ply their trade, you made Japan and Japanese baseball better. It was Wayne’s world, and we were privileged to have a place in it.

Opening Day lineups