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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2009 > July > 14 > Entry
Pressure on Obama tonight — baseball and presidents
Tonight when President Barack Obama throws out the ceremonial first pitch to St. Louis’ Albert Pujols at the All-Star game in Busch Stadium, he better hope he mirrors Bill Clinton more than Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory or nine-time Olympic gold medal winner Carl Lewis.
In 1993, Clinton became the first U.S. president to successfully throw the ball from the pitchers mound to the catcher at a big league baseball game.
As for Mallory, well, everybody around here knows what a fiasco that was. It was Cincinnati’s opener at Great American Ball Park in 2007 and Mallory uncorked an incredibly spastic throw that ended up closer to going in the dugout than finding Reds great Eric Davis who was serving as the catcher at the plate.
Yet, I’d say the worst ceremonial first pitch ever — actually, make that two — came from Lewis, who along with his Olympic gold was an eight-time world champion. His first toss in Seattle looked like it came from an under-nourished pre-schooler. As the crowd hooted, he asked for a do-over and the second one was nearly as bad. Even though he made his name with his legs, not his arms, you expect more from someone as athletic as he.
As for presidents, the first ceremonial first pitch at a Major League game came in 1910 by 335-pound William Howard Taft, or, as the warm-up band who took the stage before Willie Nelson Friday night at Fifth Third Field called him — in a song they wrote for their Ohio visit — “The Fatty From Cincinnati.”
Every president since Taft has thrown out a first pitch at a baseball game, though only four others have had the honors at an All Star Game.
The first was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937. As was tradition then, he threw the ball from his seat in the grandstand to someone waiting on the field. Three years later, his first pitch at a Washington Senators game missed its mark and smashed a camera.
Richard Nixon — maybe the greatest baseball fan in the Oval Office next to George W. Bush — was the second presidential hurler at an All Star game. It was 1970 at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium and Nixon ran up his pitch count.
He threw two ceremonial pitches, one to Reds’ catcher Johnny Bench and one to American League catcher Bill Freehan. After that he threw three balls into the stands, one, supposedly, that reached the upper deck.
Six years later President Gerald R. Ford — the old Michigan football player — put on a show, throwing a right-handed pitch to Bench and then switching left handed to throw to Carlton Fisk.
The last president to throw out a pitch at the All Star Game — in 1992 — was George H. W. Bush, himself a ball player at Yale.
Two other presidential baseball notes.
Although he was six months out of office, former president Ronald Reagan, showed up at the 1989 All Star game and rather than pitch, the old radio announcer for the Cubs went up in the broadcast booth and called Wade Boggs’s home run.
One of my favorite stories of presidents and baseball involved President John F. Kennedy, who signed an autograph for White Sox outfielder Jim Rivera in 1961.
The way the Chicago Tribune reported it, Rivera took one look at the indecipherable scrawl and, like Carl Lewis years later, asked for a do- over.
“Do you think I can go into any tavern on Chicago’s South Side and really say the president of the United States signed this baseball for me?” Rivera said. “I’d be run off.”
Kennedy laughed and signed again.
As for tonight, TWO QUESTIONS:
— When Pujols makes the catch, he will be flanked by the Cardinals six living Hall of Fame players. Do you know who they are?
— Obama is a left-hander. Do you know who the other presidential southpaws have been?
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By tom
July 14, 2009 2:13 PM | Link to this
KNowitall got the Hall of Famers right…As for the southpaw presidents, Clinton is right and there are six others not counting Obama. But I don’t think Lincoln was a lefty.
By KNowitall
July 14, 2009 2:07 PM | Link to this
Ozzie Smith, Stan Musial, Bruce Sutter, Lou Brock, Red Schoendienst and Bob Gibson. Other hall of famers have played for the Cards, like Dennis Eckersley, Steve Carlton, etc.
By KNowitall
July 14, 2009 2:06 PM | Link to this
Ozzie Smith, Stan Musial, Bruce Sutter, Lou Brock, Red Schoendienst and Bob Gibson. Other hall of famers have played for the Cards, like Dennis Eckersley, Steve Carlton, etc.
By Jim
July 14, 2009 1:46 PM | Link to this
Lincoln and Clinton