#Shortstops: Sox and jackets

Each of the racing presidents don a jersey with the number of their presidential term. George sports the No. 1, Tom No. 3, Abe No. 16, and Teddy No. 26. The since-retired William “Bill” Howard Taft of the Presidents Race, sporting No. 27, is where the love affair between U.S. presidents and Major League Baseball first began.

Taft, the 27th president of the United States of America, became the first president to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a Major League Baseball game at the Washington Senators’ first contest of the 1910 season. Thomas C. Noyes, the owner of the Senators, hoped that by having Taft throw out the first pitch, baseball would be seen officially as America’s national pastime and spectator numbers would cease their then-current decline. Following in Taft’s footsteps, presidents 28 through 44 all threw out a ceremonial first pitch at some point during their presidency.

Most of them threw out Opening Day pitches from the presidential box behind home plate, but that all changed when the Senators left Washington D.C. and presidents began traveling to other cities to throw out their first presidential pitch.

Richard Nixon became the first president to throw out an Opening Day first pitch outside of D.C. when he traveled to Anaheim, Calif. in 1973. Ronald Reagan was the first president to throw a pitch from the mound rather than from the stands when he threw out a pitch at Wrigley Field in 1988.

President Barack Obama, an unabashed Chicago White Sox fan, wore a White Sox jacket when he threw out the first pitch at the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis, Mo. – a jacket that is now a part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s collection. Despite being dressed in blue jeans, he was able to throw a solid curveball. Though his first pitch as president, it was not his first ceremonial first pitch nor would it be his last.

The following season, Obama threw out the first pitch at the Nationals’ home opener, a celebration of the centennial of Taft’s first pitch. Staying true to his Chicago roots, Obama walked to the mound sporting a Nationals windbreaker and pulled a White Sox cap out of its hiding place in his glove and put it on. He let out a chuckle, grinning ear to ear, as he readied himself to throw out the first pitch which was an out-of-camera-shot rainbow to Ryan Zimmerman behind the plate. He had also thrown out the first pitch at a Kane County Cougars game, a minor league affiliate of the Athletics, in 2004 while running for the United States Senate.