Monday, March 29, 2010

Obama: First Pitch Opening Day in Washington

Oh no.

Obama is going to try to throw out another first pitch at a Major League Baseball game.

His performance at the All-Star Game last July was not good.

The White House is touting the historic nature of Obama's Opening Day feat.

It's the 100th anniversary of presidential participation in throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day. William Howard Taft began the tradition on April 14, 1910.

Here's more, from Andrew Johnson, FanHouse's MLB Editor:

President Barack Obama will throw out the ceremonial first pitch next Monday when the Nationals open the regular season against the Phillies.

It will be Obama's first visit to Nationals Park since he was elected president and it will mark the 100th anniversary of a sitting U.S. president throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day. William Howard Taft was the first to do so on April 14, 1910. The president has thrown out the first pitch in Washington 48 times, a total held down, ostensibly, by the absence of a baseball team in the nation's capital from 1971-2005.

The last, and only, president to throw out the first pitch at Nationals Park was George W. Bush, who appeared on the night the stadium opened, and was lustily booed by a number of D.C. fans. It seems unlikely Obama will get the same reaction, but you never know.

What? Obama is not immune from being booed at a baseball game.

Why bring up President Bush and booing?

Andrew Johnson is obviously an Obama fan and a Bush detractor.

Let's not forget the All-Star Game and the boos that greeted Obama as he took the field.

From Politico:

It was low, and didn't quite reach home plate. But President Barack Obama checked a signature presidential tradition off his list Tuesday night when he threw out the first pitch at the All-Star Game.

Wearing jeans and his black White Sox jacket, Obama entered Busch Stadium to cheers – and a surprising number of boos – from the sell-out crowd.

The booing wasn't Obama's only problem.

It wasn't a good pitch; and then there was the matter of his attire. Obama wore baggy "dad jeans."

Jimmy Fallon mocked Obama for his "flowing jean pants."

Read more about Obama's pitch here.

Obama has had other embarrassing moments with baseball.

Remember when the self-proclaimed diehard White Sox fan Obama was talking about "COMINSKEY FIELD"?

That was not good. Joe Biden isn't the only one with a hilarious blooper reel.

Back to Andrew Johnson's article:

...The president threw out the first pitch at last year's All-Star Game in St. Louis, and he received a fair amount of criticism, surely none of it partisan in nature, for 1.) wearing a White Sox jacket on a day when the Cardinals were being celebrated (he's a fan, if nothing else) and 2.) for barely getting the ball to Albert Pujols at home plate.

(In this respect, Obama is no W. Say what you want about the Texan, but he could bring the heat from the pitcher's mound.)

Hopefully he's been practicing his throws since last July. Surely a perfect strike on Opening Day would do wonders to dispel the memory of his completely busted bracket.

Johnson gives a very kind account of Obama's All-Star Game performance.

At least the Obama-biased Johnson gives President Bush his props when it comes to pitching.

As far as Obama throwing a perfect strike on Opening Day, I wouldn't bet on it. When he's on the mound alone, all the slimy, corrupt backroom deals in the world won't help him. Rahm Emanuel can't intimidate the ball into the strike zone. The Dems can't buy a strike.

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