Today is Opening Day for Major League Baseball, and for such a momentous occasion, baseball teams often invite a well-known athlete, celebrity, politician, or otherwise inspiring personality to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, as this tweet from ESPN’s Darren Rovell shows:
George W. Bush threw out the first pitch tonight. 16 years ago tomorrow, he threw the best first pitch in history with a bulletproof vest on pic.twitter.com/Oc6T0mjkiC
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 30, 2017
We found footage of first pitches thrown by the five most recent former presidents during their time in office and wanted to give you the chance to vote on which former president you think threw the best first pitch. (President Trump has yet to throw a first pitch, but maybe this will be the year!)-
President Barack Obama threw out the first pitch at the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri while wearing a Chicago White Sox warmup jacket (his favorite team), drawing a mixed reaction from the hometown Cardinals fans.
President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York City less than two months after the terror attacks of 9/11. (ESPN made a short film about this you can watch here.)
President Bill Clinton did his best impression of Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn of Major League fame by throwing out the first pitch before the Cleveland Indians’ 1994 home opener.
President George H.W. Bush, who captained the baseball team at Yale University after his service in World War II, made the short trip from the White House to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day 1989 before a Baltimore Orioles game.
President Ronald Reagan threw out two first pitches at Wrigley Field and signed autographs for both the ball girl and the Chicago Cubs player who served as his catcher in September 1994. In his youth, Reagan worked for several seasons as a broadcaster recreating Cubs games for the radio based on telegraph accounts. (Enjoy the commentary in this clip from another broadcasting legend, Harry Caray.)
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: National Archives via Flickr / Public Domain)
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