The closing seconds of the Super Bowl signify the unofficial handoff to baseball, making this the perfect time to dream about the Yankees taking the field on Opening Day -- especially while snow and slush clog New York's avenues.

Numerous season openers have earned a place in franchise lore. Here are five of the most memorable (note that this list features Opening Days, not necessarily Yankees home openers):

1) The House that Ruth Built: April 18, 1923
The paint was likely still drying in the grand cathedral at the corner of 161st Street and River Avenue when Babe Ruth stepped to home plate in the fourth inning, staring down Red Sox right-hander Howard Ehmke. With a mammoth cut, the Great Bambino christened his new home, pouncing on a 2-2 curveball to launch a three-run homer into the right-field seats.

"As Ruth circled the bases, he received probably the greatest ovation of his career," read the next day's story in The New York Times. "The biggest crowd in baseball history rose to its feet and let loose the biggest shout in baseball history. Ruth, jogging over the home plate, grinned broadly, lifted his cap at arm's length and waved it at the multitude."

Ruth's homer proved to be the margin of victory in the Yankees' 4-1 victory. A crowd of 74,200 were said to have witnessed the game, having been drawn to The Bronx by the spectacle of a three-tiered stadium constructed in fewer than 12 months at a price tag of $2.4 million. Yankees starter Bob Shawkey logged a complete game, scattering three hits while striking out five.

2) The kid can play: April 2, 1996
As the 1996 season dawned, principal owner George Steinbrenner was not convinced that Derek Jeter belonged in the Majors. The Boss spent part of his spring pushing to trade Mariano Rivera to the Mariners for veteran shortstop Felix Fermin -- a suggestion forcefully shouted down by general manager Bob Watson, manager Joe Torre and super scout Gene Michael.

Steinbrenner eventually acquiesced, grumbling, "You’d better be right.” Jeter began to win Steinbrenner over with a strong Opening Day performance in Cleveland, featuring a nifty over-the-shoulder grab and his first big league homer, off right-hander Dennis Martinez. Behind Jeter and David Cone, the Yanks cruised to a 7-1 win. Jeter and Rivera went on to win five World Series in pinstripes; Fermin’s last big league at-bat was in 1996.

“It was the start, because it was Opening Day, but I think beginnings are more than one particular game,” Jeter said in 2014. “You want to play well, especially because it's your first Opening Day. Being young at the time, I know there were a lot of question marks going into that season. I thought it was important to start off well.”

3) Legends in the house: April 17, 1951
Several fantastic careers intersected as the 1951 season began at Yankee Stadium, as Mickey Mantle made his debut in a lineup that featured Joe DiMaggio playing in his final season opener. Ted Williams patrolled the same outfield that day, and the legends’ names were announced by Bob Sheppard, working his first game as the Yankees’ public address announcer.

Vic Raschi ensured that the 44,860 on hand exited happy, unaware that they had witnessed history. The hurler blanked the Red Sox on six hits in a 5-0 Yankees victory. Wearing uniform No. 6 instead of the No. 7 he’d later be assigned, Mantle picked up his first hit in the sixth inning, lacing an RBI single off Bill Wight and later scoring on a Yogi Berra single.

After a brief slump, Mantle was sent to the Minors. He returned to complete the season in New York, playing in the World Series. In Game 2, Mantle severely injured his right knee while trying to avoid a collision with DiMaggio, which would hamper him for the rest of his Hall of Fame career. Sheppard would remain in the PA booth until September 2007.

4) Setting the pace: April 19, 1960
Roger Maris was the Yankees’ first batter of the 1960 season, with manager Casey Stengel opting to calm the newly acquired outfielder’s nerves by batting him in the leadoff spot. Maris made quite an impression, going 4-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs to power an 8-4 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Facing Tom Brewer, Maris opened the day with a double, grounded out in the third inning, then cracked a two-run homer to right field in the fifth. Maris lashed a run-scoring single in the sixth off Nelson Chittum, then launched a solo homer in the eighth off Ted Bowsfield -- part of a 17-hit Yanks attack that supported Jim Coates’ complete-game win.

Maris went on to win the 1960 AL MVP, leading the AL with 112 RBIs and a .581 slugging percentage while tallying 39 homers -- one year before he and Mantle would embark on a home run chase for the ages, with Maris eclipsing Ruth’s single-season home run record of 60.

5) Presidential performance: April 10, 1967
Pitching before a crowd of 44,382 that included President Lyndon B. Johnson and his entourage, right-hander Mel Stottlemyre hurled a complete-game shutout in the nation’s capitol, scattering two hits in an 8-0 victory over the Washington Senators.

The Yankees’ glory years were behind them in the new era of CBS ownership, coming off a last-place finish and destined for a 90-loss season, but it sure didn’t look that way on that frigid afternoon in D.C. -- even with a limping Mantle playing first base for three innings, then exiting due to injury.

That was because Stottlemyre held the Senators to an infield single through eight innings, finally permitting a second hit with the game out of hand in the ninth inning. Bill Robinson crushed a two-run homer that highlighted a seven-run third inning, and Elston Howard also went deep.

Honorable mentions

• Slow Joe Doyle pitched 12 scoreless innings for the Highlanders on Opening Day in 1908.

• Ron Blomberg was the first DH in Major League history on Opening Day in 1973 at Boston.

• Bobby Murcer hit a pinch-hit grand slam in a 10-3 win over the Rangers on Opening Day in 1981.

• Giancarlo Stanton homered twice on Opening Day in 2018 at Toronto.

• Gerrit Cole picked up the win in his Yankees debut, the rain-shortened 2020 opener at Washington.