Amid flags, president set baseball precedent

by James Breig

In stadiums around the U.S., as well as one in Canada, these words will soon resound: “Play ball!” Those venues will be draped with bunting and topped with American flags as the 2015 baseball season debuts. More than a century ago, a tossed baseball set a precedent that endures.

It was established by President William Howard Taft, whose successors have copied him for 105 years. On April 15, 1910, Taft attended the season’s opening game between the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics. Besides being a fan, the president had a familial connection to baseball. His older brother, Charles, was owner of the Phillies and Cubs, and is credited with saving the latter team from bankruptcy.

As the portly president settled into his seat in a box decorated with American flag bunting, an umpire approached and handed him a baseball. Puzzled, Taft just held it in his palm. Then the ump explained that he was expected to throw out the first pitch of the season. The Senators catcher readied to receive the toss, but the chief executive knew baseball. The pitcher was the chief player, so Taft heaved it to the legendary Walter Johnson.

Thus, Taft became the first president to throw out the first pitch at a major league game. Washington won, 3-0. In fact, the A’s managed only one hit off Johnson. In the decades since, Taft’s peers have copied him, if not on opening day, then at post-season tilts.

In 1914, for example, President Woodrow Wilson had the honor on opening day. One newspaper credited his athleticism and predicted he would outshine his predecessor’s throw. Ten years later, Calvin Coolidge tossed the sphere – again to Johnson, who again blanked the opposition.

Who was the best hurler from the White House? Famed journalist Bob Considine nominated his choice in 1937. He wrote: “The best of the six chief executives who have been heaving out those first” balls since Taft “was Warren Gamaliel Harding, the old Marion, O[hio], sandlotter. Harding threw a ‘heavy ball,’ as the old-time catchers say.”

But Considine could have been wrong. After all, he dated the first presidential pitch to 1912 instead of 1910. Close, but no called strike.

As for baseball’s lucky charm, the Senators considered President Franklin Delano Roosevelt their guarantee of a win. For a long time, they never lost a game he attended.