The Nashua Silver Knights’ opening night and all that was supposed to go with it was rained out Friday.

Bummer.

It brings back memories of former Nashua Pride general manager Billy Johnson, who fought many a battle while in the position. He won his share and lost some, but there was one he could never seem to win: the battle against Mother Nature.

That’s why Johnson, when asked upon his departure what had to happen to make Nashua a successful baseball franchise, answered, “You know what we need in Nashua? We need it not to rain.”

Now we know what Johnson meant. And at the time he said so, it wasn’t a bad answer. Rain snakebit the Pride during a lot of summers. One of the reasons why was that the club was held captive to its walk-up crowd. Holman Stadium doesn’t have a roof over the stands like some other parks, and the trend around here is that once there’s a sprinkle or a cloud in the sky, fans won’t head to Holman to buy a ticket.

It’s too bad this wasn’t last weekend. The place would have been jammed. The Silver Knights were expecting a crowd, with a good walk-up, of more than 2,000.

“It’s disappointing,” said Jon Goode, vice president of marketing and media, as the team did the smart thing given the forecast and called the game at noon Friday. “But at the same time, we’re still going to stay positive.

“We wanted to make the decision early so people could make their plans and not wonder about it. It’s too bad, because this isn’t only special to us, but to the players, the coaches and the fans.”

In some respects, opening night was doomed from the start. When the schedule came out in late January, it was originally slated for last Wednesday. But so were the NHIAA Division I baseball semifinals, and the Silver Knights and the Futures Collegiate Baseball League did the smart thing and reworked the schedule. A weekend opener is always better, anyway.

The catch is that the team’s next home game is an 11 a.m. Education Day game on Wednesday for area school field trips. The time isn’t exactly festive-friendly for a home opener, even though 1,000 tickets have been sold, mostly to students.

Thus, they’ll consider this a “soft open” and have what they call the “hard open” – the opening night festivities, complete with championship ring ceremony, ceremonial first pitch and postgame fireworks – on June 15. The pregame ring ceremony will be at 6:30, with the game to follow at about 7:05.

They’ll move Nashua Dodgers Night, when the Knights will wear Dodgers uniforms, to June 16.

Thus, the players will have their regular Silver Knight garb on.

“We’re celebrating last year’s championship,” Goode said. “The Dodgers didn’t win it, the Silver Knights did.”

Goode and team President Tim Bawmann know the deal. They, like all of the other minor league front office people around the region, know it’s a crapshoot with the weather in New England. Remember, they run the Lowell Spinners, too.

“And Lowell,” Goode said, “gets the same weather as Nashua. We’re used to it. That’s why we’re not too devastated. … We had a plan in place, we’re confident in our abilities, and we can go to our plan and focus on it. All is not lost.”

It certainly isn’t. There are more than two months of great baseball ahead. But that’s the shame: The team did a lot of work all winter to drum up tons of interest for what looked like a packed opening night.

Instead, the Silver Knights will start the season in Brockton, Mass., on Saturday night.

“I think last year we were the visitor for three or four teams’ home openers,” Knights manager J.P. Pyne said. “We’re used to it.”

Yeah, but it’s still a bummer. Billy Johnson, you hit the nail on the head.

Tom King can be reached at 594-6468 or tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

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