" Last yr , more Americans went to symphonies than went to baseball game games . This may be viewed as an alarming statistic , but I think that both baseball and the area will stomach . “ " “ President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Last Tuesday , President Barack Obama confound out the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals house opener against the Philadelphia Phillies . It was n’t pretty . Obama ’s pitch was high and alfresco , which juxtapose nicely with the too - low toss that was the first presidential possibility day pitch , made 100 twelvemonth ago today . *
On April 14 , 1910 , President William Taft , an devouring sportswoman fan , went to see the Washington play their home untier against , coincidently , Philadelphia ( back then , however , the teams were the Senators and the Athletics ) . A few members of his governance came along , including military aide Archibald Butt . Just before the plot go , umpire Billy Evans walk over to Taft ’s seat on the first radical line , unprompted , and handed him a novel baseball game . He asked the chairperson to throw the ball from the stands to Senators pitcher Walter Johnson at home plate to officially start the American League season . President Taft rose , turned and threw a decent - handed pitch low and inside . Contemporary bill say the stroke had little grace or mode , but Johnson caught it and the crowd exit kookie . Washington beat Philadelphia 3 - 0 and Taft later autograph the ball for the team .
Taft throw out the first pitch of the 1911 time of year , too , but the budding tradition experienced some grow pain sensation in the follow long time .
Taft skipped the 1912 home untier when his close champion Butt croak down with theTitanic — on the return trip from a holiday Taft had urged him to take . The United States occupation of Veracruz kept Woodrow Wilson from throwing the first pitch of 1914 , and he miss four more rest home openers because of World War I ( 1917 and 1918 ) , the Paris Peace Conference ( 1919 ) and a stroke ( 1920 ) .
Since we ’re blab baseball , let ’s get down to the stats and trifle :
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower tie for most pitch throw at porta day game with 8 pitches each .
In 1946 , Harry Truman was the first president to throw out a first pitch left - handed . In 1950 , he discombobulate two pitches — one with each hand .
Ronald Reagan was the first President to confound from the pitcher ’s mound ; Bill Clinton was the first to get the bollock from the agglomerate to the catcher without it bouncing .
1921 marked the first sentence the Senators lost when a President ( Warren Harding ) threw out the first pitch before the game .
Obama ’s lurch last workweek was the 50th prison term a President has thrown the Opening Day sales pitch in Washington D.C. and the 67th time in any city .
" “ And if you ’re looking for the most emotional first pitching , whatever your political leanings , George W. Bush ’s post-9/11 smasher is tough to beat :
Presidentialbeing the running Bible . Contrary to pop impression , the custom of a ceremonial first pitch by an important guest did n’t develop in America , but Japan , where former Prime Minister and Waseda University father Okuma Shigenobu threw the first ball of the Waseda squad ’s season in 1908 .
- In 1960 , the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins . The next season , an enlargement team in Washington , D.C. , also called the senator , begin play . That ’s the franchise that relocated to Texas before the 1972 season .
