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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President Taft starts the tradition in 1910.
June 9, 1910
(Image credit: President Taft tosses out the first pitch.)

1916
(Image credit: President Woodrow Wilson.)

c. 1921
(Image credit: President Warren G. Harding.)

October 1924
(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.)

c. 1929
(Image credit: President Herbert Hoover.)

May 1941
(Image credit: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.)

April 18. 1949
(Image credit: President Harry Truman.)

1957
(Image credit: President Dwight Eisenhower.)

April 10, 1961
(Image credit: President John F. Kennedy.)

April 13, 1964
(Image credit: President Lyndon Johnson.)

April 7, 1969
(Image credit: President Richard Nixon.)

July 13, 1976
(Image credit: President Gerald Ford throws out the first pitch to start the All-Star game in Philadelphia.)

Sept. 30, 1988
(Image credit: President Ronald Reagan throws out the first pitch from the mound at Wrigley Field.)

April 8, 1991
(Image credit: President George Bush throws out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ opening night in Arlington.)

April 1992
(Image credit: President Bill Clinton.)

April 5, 2004
(Image credit: President George W. Bush.)

July 14, 2009
(Image credit: President Barack Obama throws out the first pitch at the 2009 MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri.)

Lauren Hansen
Lauren Hansen

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.