All the presidents' delightfully awkward first pitches
Photographs of America's most powerful men throwing the ceremonial first pitch gives some indication of why they got into politics


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(Image credit: President Taft tosses out the first pitch.)

(Image credit: President Woodrow Wilson.)

(Image credit: President Warren G. Harding.)

(Image credit: President Calvin Coolidge throws out the ball for the opening game of the 1924 World Series between the Washington Senators and the New York Giants.)

(Image credit: President Herbert Hoover.)

(Image credit: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.)

(Image credit: President Harry Truman.)

(Image credit: President Dwight Eisenhower.)

(Image credit: President John F. Kennedy.)

(Image credit: President Lyndon Johnson.)

(Image credit: President Richard Nixon.)

(Image credit: President Gerald Ford throws out the first pitch to start the All-Star game in Philadelphia.)

(Image credit: President Ronald Reagan throws out the first pitch from the mound at Wrigley Field.)

(Image credit: President George Bush throws out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ opening night in Arlington.)

(Image credit: President Bill Clinton.)

(Image credit: President George W. Bush.)

(Image credit: President Barack Obama throws out the first pitch at the 2009 MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri.)
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Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.