<p>keymom, the Chicago Sun-Times concurs: “Obama’s ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star game barely reached the plate Tuesday night. St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols helped the president, moving up on the plate and reaching out to scoop the low toss.”</p>
<p>…as does the Chicago Tribune: “St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols helped out the president, moving up to scoop the low toss before it hit the dirt.”</p>
<p>“The All-Star game capped off a big sports outing for the president. He began the day by greeting Wimbledon champion Serena Williams at the White House, then picked up Hall of Famer Willie Mays in Michigan for the flight to St. Louis.”</p>
<p>It would have been nice if he had invited Andy Roddick too. Only American to reach the finals several times this decade. And he probably could have helped him with his pitch a little given that he can serve at faster than 140 MPH.</p>
<p>As far as the jeans are concerned, not baggy to me. When you don’t have a butt, that is what the back of your jeans look like. My 92 year old father-in-law looks the same way in a pair of jeans!! Would you rather have him wear a pair of trendy jeans like 7 For All Mankind?</p>
<p>I was so happy that he wore a White Sox jacket, and I will tell you why. He is not afraid to be an individual, and to say he has a favorite team. We want our politicians to be so… neutral. Politically correct. Please everybody- be careful not to insult.</p>
<p>In this case, he is a Sox fan and he wore the jacket. Good for him.</p>
<p>Obama definately bounced it. He throws like a girl! I am embarrassed for him. He should stick to running what he is good at, uh, what ever that is.</p>
<p>Another long time baseball fan…I was definitely interested. Especially after watching Carl Lewis’ first pitch. Here was a 9 or 10 time Olympic medaler, ok no medals for baseball but still he’s a world class athlete, whose pitch was nothing short of comical and had to be totally embarrassing. </p>
<p>I too heard reports Obama practiced a fair amount. He projects that young, in shape, athletic image and didn’t want to disappoint. The worst kind of pitch is the one that’s not straight. Obama was short with it, but it was straight. Not as good as G W Bush’s throw, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Had this conversation been about Sarah Palins’s first pitch, or any other female politician for that matter, the cries of “sexism” would be deafening.</p>
<p>I would invite any of you to try throwing a baseball from a raised mound the major league distance to home plate in front of umpteen million people.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of expectations for a President. Gotta be tall, gotta dress a certain way, gotta eat a certain kind of food <a href=“remember%20people%20being%20upset%20because%20Bill%20Clinton%20liked%20pizza,%20for%20crying%20out%20loud?”>i</a>*, gotta have a dog, gotta throw the first pitch, and so on.</p>
<p>It’s one of those things that makes no sense, but never changes.</p>
Are you kidding? Sarah Palin would totally pitch it over the plate into the strike zone. Then all the chattering class would find something nasty to say anyway.</p>
<p>I’ve already cut him some slack on the pitch. But people’s comments about manipulating the camera angle &c reflect the pervasive atmosphere of “presidential image management” that does seem to exist with this administration. A very clear difference from the past eight years, and not too healthy imho.</p>
<p>It’s not about the pitch; it’s about the pitchman.</p>
<p>It wasn’t really Obama,himself, it was the camera person. Very tight angle on his face so as to ensure that the actual throw wasn’t visible. Trying to spare him embarrassment. So what if it wasn’t a great pitch? That’s not a negative reflection in any way. But hiding it kind of is.</p>