Slide Show: Presidential First Pitches
The general-election campaign is under way, and so is the baseball season. Over at Daily Comment, Steve Coll asks how those two could be joined—and maybe, just maybe, whether a World Series run by the Washington Nationals might play a decisive role in the Presidential race. Presidents have been throwing out pitches at Washington baseball games, and at other stadiums around the country, for a century. You can see some of the best moments—from William Howard Taft, who tossed the ball to Walter Johnson, to Barack Obama, in the following slide show: http://nyr.kr/J08ZI1 (Also see: Presidents and their dogs.)
JFK’s grandfather, John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, Opening Day, Fenway Park.
Introducing the Kennedy Library’s Tumblr blog! This photo is super cool, and there’s lots more Kennedy history happening there. Follow them and enjoy.
From L-R: two unidentified, Charles Logue (designed original Fenway Park), Mayor John Francis Fitzgerald (“Honey Fitz”), and unidentified, Fenway Park, 1912.
Happy 100th Anniversary Fenway Park! Here’s a great photo of JFK’s grandfather, Honey Fitz, taken April 20, 1912, on the opening day of Fenway Park.
It’s the 100th opening day at Fenway Park.
Here, John F. Kennedy meets with Ted Williams and Eddie Pellagrini of the Boston Red Sox, and Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park, Boston, April 1946.
-from the Kennedy Library
…and Baseball is the greatest of American sports.
President Herbert Hoover
Presidents & baseball: take a look through the years of presidents throwing out first pitches.
President Kennedy throws the first pitch of the 1961 baseball season at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C. 4/10/1961
Griffith Stadium hosted every POTUS from William Howard Taft to JFK before it was demolished in 1965. Taft was a baseball fan and initiated the tradition of the Presidential first pitch at Griffith Stadium. As the home of The Washington Senators, the stadium featured a presidential box behind first base.
Also seen in this photo are Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota; Special Assistant to the President Dave Powers; majority owner of the Washington Senators franchise General Elwood R. “Pete” Quesada; Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois; Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Abraham Ribicoff; Associate Press Secretary Andrew Hatcher; Secret Service Agents Gerald “Jerry” Behn and John J. “Muggsy” O’Leary.
Source: jfklibrary.org
Jackie Robinson
January 31, 1919 - October 24, 1972
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was the first African American to “officially” play in Major League Baseball. When he retired from the game, Jackie Robinson went on to champion the cause of civil rights from his position as a prominent executive of the Chock Full o’Nuts Corporation. Robinson had grown increasingly impatient with what he regarded as President Eisenhower’s failure to act decisively in combating racism. In this letter, he expresses his frustration and calls upon the President to finally guarantee Federal support of black civil rights. Shown here is Robinson’s 1958 letter to President Eisenhower, and a photo of Robinson with his son at the March on Washington D.C. in 1963. Jackie Robinson passed away on this day, 39 years ago.
Post 9/11 World Series In 2001, the World Series included the New York Yankees in a duel with the Arizona Diamondbacks. President George W. Bush was asked to throw out the first pitch in Game 3 of the Series, the first game of that championship to be held in New York, played on October 30. At the George W. Bush Library, we have the ball that the President threw, the jacket that he wore, and even the pitching rubber that he stood on at the mound. The jacket was a gift from New York City Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, and President Bush wore it onto the field in honor of the many men and women who had died trying to save others on 9/11. Read more
Ladies and Gents! On this date in 1927, September 30, Babe Ruth hit the 60th home run of the baseball season!
In celebration of this baseball great, here he is in 1948, presenting his papers to Yale University. Who’s that receiving them? None other than the Yale Baseball Team Captain (and future U.S. President) George Bush.
June 5, 1948.
Teddy Ballgame, The Splendid Splinter, The Thumper, The Greatest Hitter, The Kid- Call him what you will, 70 years ago today, Ted Williams became the last person to finish a baseball season with a batting average of over .400. September 28, 1941.
Twenty-eight years later, Ted Williams was the manager for the Washington Senators. Here’s Williams with President Nixon on opening day of the 1969 baseball season between the Senators and the New York Yankees. Nixon threw the ceremonial first pitch on April 7, 1969. Williams was later named Manager of the Year for this 1969 season.
-from the Nixon Library
