Cincinnati Reds’ great Sean Casey was the marshal for the 2017 Opening Day Parade

The Cincinnati Reds selected long time first baseman Sean Casey as their 2017 Opening Day Parade Marshal.

Here’s a look back at the Cincinnati Reds’ most cherished tradition from earlier this year as the weather slowly begins to warm up.

Sean Casey was the Cincinnati Reds’ primary first baseman from 1998 to 2005.  He became a Red when the Cleveland Indians traded him to the Reds in exchange for starting pitcher Dave Burba.  Casey had been with Cleveland Indians’ organization since they drafted him in the second round out of high school.

During his eight years with the Reds, Casey batted ,302 making the All-Star Game 3 times.  His career year was his second one with the Reds, when he batted .332 with 25 home runs, 99 RBIs, and 103 runs.  He was rewarded for his time with the team by being inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2012.

Casey also played for his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates, the Detroit Tigers, and the Boston Red Sox.  His partial season with the Pirates did not work out well.  He batted .296 in limited playing time before being traded to Detroit on July 31, 2006.

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In the 2006 playoffs Casey batted .432 and hit two home runs in five games.  The Saint Louis Cardinals beat the Tigers in the World Series.  Casey played for the Tigers in 2007 before moving on the Boston Red Sox.

Known as the Mayor when he was with the Cincinnati Reds, Sean Casey was the perfect marshal for a Cincinnati tradition.

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Last year the Reds selected 1990 Worlds Series manager Lou Piniella.  Piniella also rejoined the Reds last year as a special adviser to the front office.  This off-season Piniella missed being voted into the Hall of Fame as a manager.  Despite this, he has still been recognized by both the Reds and the Seattle Mariners.

For his part as a celebrity, Casey now works for MLB Network.  He has also worked as a color commentator for both the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds.  This time, though, the parade was the real star.

The 2017 Opening Day Parade represented the 98th edition of the Findlay Market based parade.  As the tradition goes, the route went right down Race Street and turned onto Fifth ending at Taft Theatre.  Starting at noon these days, the parade is still the true kick-off to the MLB season.

Perhaps the most interesting thing in this year’s parade was the 14 foot height restriction.  Due to the new downtown cable car, all of the units had to be shorter than 14 feet.  It wasn’t really noticeable.

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Now that the parade is over and the season is well underway, Casey is back being an MLB announcer.  It’s nice to see old players, but for this Reds’ team the young players are the story.  Maybe they got some hitting tips from the lefty Casey while he was in town.