Opie, not Ozzie, brought the starting lineup card to home plate for the Chicago White Sox against the Los Angeles Angels yesterday.
Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard showed up in the White Sox spring training complex sporting a Chicago uniform while taking a break from editing "The Da Vinci Code," his latest expected blockbuster film.
The former television star of "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Happy Days" - a diehard baseball fan - shagged fly balls in pregame warmups for the White Sox and then turned in the starting lineup instead of manager Ozzie Guillen.
"I have always wanted to be a fly on the wall at a major league training facility," Howard said. "I am really a (Los Angeles) Dodger fan, but more than anything I am a fan of the game. This is a great thrill for me."
Howard received an invitation from Chicago hitting coach Greg Walker, a longtime friend, to hang out with the team for pregame batting practice, eat lunch and sit in the dugout for a few innings.
"I have been able to sit in on a couple of coaches meetings," Howard said. "It was fascinating to see that on an organizational level how meticulous everyone is. It reminded me how I am in my meetings."
The trip was a quick one. Howard, who had just returned to the United States from Europe, where he was completing filming of "The Da Vinci Code," was in Los Angeles on Friday editing the film, then headed to Tucson on Saturday.
He flew back to Los Angeles last night to resume editing the film, which is scheduled for release in May.
"I have had a chance to do this kind of thing, but never in spring training," Howard said. "This is a big thrill. It is like fantasy camp for me."
Howard walked around the White Sox clubhouse like one of the guys, talking to a few of the players and getting the whole "experience."
"It is cool being around him. He hasn't signed me up to a (movie) contract yet, though," Chicago third baseman/outfielder Rob Mackowiak joked.
Howard says he is always looking for unique characters or story lines for upcoming movies, and he might not have found a better baseball clubhouse than Chicago's, which is loose after winning the World Series last season.
A baseball movie is not out of the question for the former actor and superstar director, who won an Academy Award for "A Beautiful Mind," and whose other directing credits include "Splash," "Apollo 13," "Cinderella Man" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
"I have thought about it, but it is really an amazingly difficult sport to film," he said. "The fact is I always wanted to film a baseball movie.
"The fact that there have been some really good ones - it somewhat loses its luster for me. It has already been done well. I need to find something else.
"Part of me is excited with raising the sport internationally. One of the problems has been that baseball movies are expensive to make, and nobody outside of the United States, South America and Japan wants to see a baseball movie. As the game becomes more internationally, there is a better chance of (me) doing it."
Seeing the White Sox firsthand might give him some ideas, because there are players from a half a dozen countries in their clubhouse.
The come-from-nowhere success the White Sox had a year ago also would make it appealing. Howard just wanted to take a look as a longtime baseball fan.
"I missed the whole last baseball season because I was in Europe doing 'The Da Vinci Code,' " he said.
"Tom Hanks (who is in the film), and I, who are big fans, we kept reading about this miracle season these guys were having. I can't wait to tell him that I actually got to hang out with these guys."