Presidents and baseball

Today of course, is Presidents’ Day.

Baseball is the one sport where there is a history of presidents being involved in, most notably throwing a ceremonial first pitch in many seasons.

The presidential first pitch tradition started with William Howard Taft in 1910 and was most recently done by George W. Bush in 2006 (in Cincinnati). Regardless of who the president is, a presidential ceremonial first pitch is a very cool tradition and I hope it continues.

Perhaps the most important presidential involvement with baseball was the Green Light letter Franklin Roosevelt wrote to then-commissioner Landis, urging baseball to continue during World War II. An excerpt:

I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before.

And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before.

Baseball provides a recreation which does not last over two hours or two hours and a half, and which can be got for very little cost. And, incidentally, I hope that night games can be extended because it gives an opportunity to the day shift to see a game occasionally.