The Top 10 First Pitches Ever Thrown By The President Of The United States
Since it’s Presidents Day, and Opening Day is seven weeks from today, let’s rank the best first pitches ever thrown by a President of the United States.
10.) Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 14, 1936: These old school first pitches that U.S. presidents used to throw are awful. They’re not even first pitches; they’re first shot puts. FDR looks like he’s at a carnival, playing that game where you have to get the tennis ball in the plastic bucket. That’s not baseball. That’s not a pitch. Get out of my face with that.
9.) Barack Obama, April 5, 2010: I give Obama a lot of credit here, because he wasn’t one of these presidents who went out there and wore the home team’s hat just to get some hometown applause. He’s a White Sox fan, and he’s true to his team. Gotta respect it. But this first pitch was atrocious. He balked about six or seven times, and then threw a pitch that was about five feet out of the strike zone.
8.) Richard Nixon, July 14, 1970: Honestly, I wanted to rank this first pitch dead last. But then I kept watching the video, and I saw Richard Nixon show off his rocket arm at the end, and it blew my mind. I couldn’t rank an arm like that dead last. The first pitch was brutal, and more than deserving of ranking last, but it seems like the MLB was just trying to keep the animal in his cage by having him throw from a short distance. Nixon just didn’t know how to adjust to the circumstances. That’s why he threw a seed into the upper deck.
7.) Ronald Reagan, September 30, 1988: I love the tenacity. I love the fire. I love that he wasn’t satisfied with his first pitch, so he demanded another one, which was pretty good. But baseball is a motherfucker. You don’t always get a second chance. When you make a mistake on the mound, you don’t get a do-over, so I’ve gotta bump him down the list and only judge him based on the first pitch. That being said, Reagan can pitch for me any day. I want a guy who is motivated by their mistakes and not crippled by them when all eyes are on you.
6.) Bill Clinton, April 4, 1994: I’m a little disappointed in myself, because I feel like I went easy on Clinton here. No doubt, his pitch was a strike, which is rare when it comes to presidential first pitches so that puts him in an elite class, but that was a pussy ass lob ball that he was trying to get over for a strike. If you come in anybody’s wheelhouse with that shit, it’s going top tank. Have some balls and put some zip on that fastball. If you miss, you miss. But at least you’re not the president who threw a lollipop.
5.) George H.W. Bush, April 3, 1989: First thing’s first — let’s acknowledge that this pitch was not a strike. But there were a few factors that won me over here. Most importantly, this was the day that I was born, and it was also Opening Day for the Red Sox against the Orioles, so he automatically gets bonus points. Beyond that, every baseball fan loves a quick-worker on the mound. Dude was on the rubber for maybe half a second before he delivered a pitch. Beautiful. Also, he turned up the gas on that fastball, and that’s what the fans paid to see. It obviously runs in the family, as we’ll discuss later.
4.) Jimmy Carter, October 28, 1995: This is everything you want to see in a presidential first pitch. Doesn’t throw from the grass, gets right up there on the mound, quick delivery, puts some mustard on it, and it’s relatively close to the strike zone. Boom.
3.) Gerald Ford, July 13, 1976: I’m not crazy about the first pitches from the presidential box, but I had to make an exception for the next two picks. This is just cocky as hell from Ford here. Oh, you want me to throw the first pitch? How about I throw two first pitches? How about I throw one right-handed and one left-handed? Unreal. Gerald Ford was Pat Venditte before Pat Venditte was Pat Venditte.
2.) John F. Kennedy, April 10, 1961: The bottom line here is that John F. Kennedy looked like a million bucks no matter what he was doing, and throwing out a first pitch was no exception. He was a model of excellence and the poster boy of America. Women wanted to be with him, and guys wanted to be him. On this day, America’s greatest pastime met America’s greatest symbol of hope during the 1960’s, and what a first pitch it was.
1.) George W. Bush, October 30, 2001: This one was obvious. It’s the greatest first-pitch of all-time, never mind by a United States president — by anyone. It was a moment that baseball fans who lived through the 9/11 tragedy will never forget. From Bob Sheppard’s legendary voice announcing Bush’s name, to taking the mound in the center of the city that was in the midst of healing after suffering the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, to firing a strike that evoked deafening chants of “USA! USA! USA!” from the New York City crowd. It was the greatest first pitch ever thrown by a United States president, and a moment that will live forever in baseball history.