I've been waiting a long time for tonight.

It was June 1999, and I was beginning my first summer as a high school sports writer for the newspaper I read growing up. My summer assignment would be to visit New Jersey's six minor league ballparks (and the one in Staten Island) and write a Sunday column about the experiences. And I was starting the summer covering the women's World Cup soccer opener at Giants Stadium, talking with Brandi Chastain and her teammates before they all became so well known.

And I was offered a promotion to the copy desk, with the impression that I'd be in line for the minor league baseball beat when the team came to Lakewood in 2001.

That team came here tonight.

On a cold, rainy, windy April night on the Jersey Shore, the Lakewood BlueClaws played their first home game after a lousy 1-5 road trip to start their inaugural season. And when the skies opened further at 8:14 p.m., the umpires pulled the players off the field and less than an hour later they suspended the game, a 3-2 BlueClaws edge to be continued tomorrow before the regularly scheduled contest.

But despite the rain and cold, I loved it -- the day had finally come. I can still see the headline on the cover of the paper announcing the sale of the Cape Fear, N.C., team and the owners' intentions to move it to New Jersey. And I remember thinking how April 2001 seemed so far away back in June 1999.

I never thought those 22 months would pass.

But tonight, I arrived at the ballpark early, 3:30 p.m., when the parking lot was essentially empty. I parked where the players and front office members parked, and I walked into the ballpark before any fans had arrived. I watched from the press box/suite level concourse as the cars lined up on the roads to enter the lots and the fans filed into the stadium through the rain. I stood down along the dugout while the players warmed up, with batting practice cancelled because of the weather. I stood out on the balcony of the press box, listening to the pregame ceremonies and the response from the crowd as the BlueClaws took the field. I listened to them boo at every ball call to the leadoff hitter of the visiting team. And I listened to their cheers at the first out.

Baseball came to the Jersey Shore tonight, and I was there on the inside, walking onto the field and into the dugout and clubhouse; up to the suites and party decks as I pleased. I was there as a fan and a reporter, getting to everywhere, every place I would've wanted to be.

So one game down and 69 to go. It's going to be a great summer.

And not a bad entry for No. 200 either.