First pitches

If you have any way of doing so, make sure you catch the attempt by Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory at today's Reds-Cubs game. He lauches it about 10 feet left of home plate -- and the look on Eric Davis' face (he was catching) is priceless. A mix of "Is this guy putting me on?" and "Oh my God! He hit the bull!"

 

First pitches stopped being important when the empty suits in the front office used it as a marketing tool.
A special treat became everyday.

 

Yeah, but this was just special. Mallory was up on Univ of Cincinnati campus last week practicing. I heard it was just pitiful -- dude was launching them into the dugouts, guys in the stands were ducking. And then Mallory does it for the big moment.

 

Meanwhile...

George Bush declined to throw out the first pitch at the Nationals game.

Today is Washington's 65th Opening Day since 1910, when William H. Taft gave us a tradition: the ceremonial first pitch by the president. Taft threw the inaugural one for the Senators that year. In the local club's 63 home openers since, a dozen presidents have done the honors 45 times, from front-row seats or from the mound, making them 46 for 64 overall (.719). Pretty reliable.

"Oh, yes, he was invited," said Bush spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore. She said the president, an avid baseball fan and former part owner of the Texas Rangers, would love to be there. But "it's not possible with his schedule. He's got various meetings during the day, a meeting earlier in the morning. . . . It just wasn't going to work out."

With Bush's approval ratings stuck below 40 percent in recent polls, Lawrimore was asked whether the president feared he'd get booed. "No," she replied. "Certainly not."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/01/AR2007040101262_pf.html

 

"I don't know where it's goin..."

 

My guess is Bush would rather wait an throw one out in Arlington.

 

I saw it. He actually hit one of the umpires. It was funny as hell. I couldn't hear the audio so I didn't know who it was. It's also worth watching the replay just to get a look at Eric Davis' suit. It's from the Michael Irvin Collection.

 

The Cincy mayor's attempt:

 

The ump mock-throwing him out of the game, at least, had a sense of humor about it. Davis' reaction, though, was priceless.

 

It looked like he expected Ashton Kutcher to jump out and yell "You're punk'd!"

 

Rich Ankiel anyone?

 

How could someone be so bad? That is some funny stuff.