Warning: This will be an old guy's lament.

After going to the Mariners game on Sunday and being surrounded by people who didn't get the ettiquette of baseball (waiting until the at-bat is over before returning to your seat), or ettiquette generally (it's kind of rude to stand for a confab when you're blocking people's views), or baseball generally, I thought about the days when it felt like the stands were filled with real fans—people who knew something-something about the game. I thought of the time before my time, when men in suits and fedoras would show up on weekday afternoons, probably straight from work, probably playing hookey from it. And I thought: That would've been interesting to have been part of that. How do we make that happen again?

Maybe a promotion? You know throwback unis for players? Why not throwback unis for fans? Show up in suit/tie and get half off. Add a fedora for another quarter. I don't know. I just like the idea of it.

But mostly I like the idea of going to baseball games with baseball fans.

Opening Day, early '60s, around the time I was born.