Wednesday, July 15, 2009

First Pitches: A Contrast in Style and Substance

OK, now baseball isn’t my thing, much to the angst of my grandfather who was a baseball fanatic and formerly pitched in AAA in the Southern League. But I am a fan of the first pitch ceremony, especially since that one memorable first pitch that inaugurated the new stadium in Washington, DC.

The one where George W. Bush was roundly booed.

Here’s the YouTube clip. Watch about half way through and you get a nice shot of the grimace that momentarily spread over his face.

Now what gets me is the praise that is heaped on the 1st pitch style and ability of Bush. A clear violation of any sense of credibility. According to the announcers you would think that the pitch itself was just slightly out of the strike zone, but I distinctly saw Manny Acta practically had to leave Earth in order to land Bush’s pitch in his glove.

Contrast that to Barack Obama’s first pitch in yesterday’s All Star game. Southpaw Barack Obama even had a wind-up of sorts.

Oh, and the booing? I think there was one guy booing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That one guy booing was a little loud don't you think?

And it would be nice to see where the ball actually landed. With the girly little wind up, I'm betting it didn't reach the plate.

Hal said...

It reached the plate. Went over the plate Just under the strike zone.

Yeah,that was one voice. That guy was obviously close to the microphone.

My president is better than your president, nyaaah.