1996 was the last time the President of the United States threw out the first pitch for the Baltimore Orioles. That in the form of President Bill Clinton on Opening Day. Vice-President Joe Biden also came to Camden Yards one year. But it’s been that long since a sitting President has done it.
The White House has a unique relationship with Major League Baseball, due to the tradition of the President throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day. President William Howard Taft almost inadvertently began the tradition in 1910 on Opening Day for the Washington Senators. Since then most subsequent Presidents have done it.
Sadly the tradition has waned in recent years. Neither President Biden nor President Trump (to this point) did the honors. But it was certainly a thing for a time. President Roosevelt (FDR) actually hit a Washington Post camera when doing the deed one year. President Kennedy opened the 1961 season (his first in office) and the new DC Stadium with a first pitch for the Senators on Opening Day. DC Stadium would later be renamed in honor of his slain brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
When the Senators moved after 1971, the “Presidential Opener” did take on a Baltimore flavor. The Orioles were the closest team to the nation’s capitol, but ironically the first time a President did the honors at Memorial Stadium wasn’t on Opening Day. It was in the 1979 World Series when President Jimmy Carter threw out the first pitch. President’s Reagan, Bush (41), and the aforementioned President Clinton would come to Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards in subsequent years. (And the aforementioned Joe Biden, as Vice-President.)
Obviously the most celebrated and important first pitch in history was that of President George W. Bush at the 2001 World Series. This of course in the wake of 9/11, and at Yankee Stadium to boot. In a moment that largely symbolizes a moment when America rose like a Phoenix from the ashes (and yes I recognize that the Arizona Diamondbacks won that World Series!), the President threw from the mound as opposed to in front of it. And…he threw a strike.
Again, the tradition has waned. Many Presidents, including Bush (43) and Obama, have cited the fact that it’s somewhat unfair to fans coming to games to have to undergo the security checks which get set up by the Secret Service when the President shows up. Having attended football games with the President in attendance, honestly it isn’t as much as I would have thought. For what that’s worth.
As a Presidential history buff, this is one of my favorite “recurring” columns to write each year. I always end it the same way, and this year is going to be no exception. But I’m going to give an additional “add-on spin” to it also. We now have for the first time in history, a Pope born in the United States. So to His Holiness, Pope Leo, I suspect that your hometown team, the Chicago White Sox, would love to have you throw out the first pitch on Opening Day!
Again, I end this column in the same way every year, pointing at the current occupant of the Oval Office. I think the President of the United States should throw out the first ball on Opening Day in Washington DC every year.
Birdland Crush 