Baseball As America

From the Tour: On the Road With Baseball As America

The “First Fan” Delivery Arrives Presidential

by Kristen Mueller,
Baseball As America Lead Curator

(Article originally published in Memories and Dreams — Spring 2004)

The ball used by William Howard Taft (lower right) for America's first presidential Opening Day pitch in 1910 is displayed alongside those signed by several presidents who have continued the tradition (top row from left: Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover; bottom row from left: Warren Harding and Taft).

As the 27th President of the United States, he established the Department of Labor, extended the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission and saw constitutional amendments passed for the direct election of senators and a Federal Income Tax.

However, for baseball fans, William Howard “Big Bill” Taft may best be known for inaugurating a custom that solidified the link between the National Pastime and one of the nation’s most formidable institutions, the American presidency.

Since baseball’s inception in the mid-nineteenth century, presidents have been involved with the National Pastime in many ways, whether it be playing, watching or supporting the game. As far back as 1860, associations between presidents and baseball appeared in print and illustration. Then, on April 14, 1910, Taft threw out the original presidential “first pitch” on Opening Day for the Washington Senators. Though the portly president’s pitch was a bit off-the-mark, the Senators’ starting pitcher, Walter Johnson, caught the ball.

There was no advance publicity for the event – simply an invitation from Ban Johnson, the president of the American League. Photographers on hand at Washington’s American League Park captured the action, which was printed in newspapers around the country the following day. Thus, the “First Fan” began a tradition of lending official sanction to Opening Day – in some way a symbolic blessing of the rebirth of spring. Perhaps the president’s appearance brought a stroke of luck to the team, who went on to defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-0, with Johnson pitching a one-hitter. Following the victory, Johnson held on to the first-pitch ball and had a friend deliver it to the White House the following day for a signature. Taft wrote, “White House, Washington, D.C., To Walter Johnson with the hope that he may continue to be as formidable as in yesterday’s game, William H. Taft, April 15, 1910.” Taft’s well-wishes proved true – Johnson went on to achieve a Hall of Fame career with over 400 wins and a record 110 shutouts.

Since 1910, every president has ceremoniously rung in a new baseball year, except for Jimmy Carter, who, despite being a great fan, made it to only one game while in office (Game Seven of the 1979 World Series). The most prolific presidential pitcher, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, managed to participate in a record eight Opening Days during his run in the White House. As only one of many ties between the game and patriotic symbolism, the presidential pitch not only forms a bond among the game, the country, and its leader, but offers politicians a desirable connection to a wholesome, all-American image.

As part of the Hall of Fame’s national traveling exhibition Baseball As America, the Taft baseball is a centerpiece of a display focused on the relationship between our national pastime and our national identity.