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.
(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.)

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.