first pitch

In baseball, a pitch is the throw delivered to the batter by the pitcher. Of course, every game has a first pitch as part of the actual game, but the phrase first pitch is used to refer to the ceremonial first throwing of a baseball as a way to inaugurate and add some extra ceremony to the beginning of a season or a game.

It’s uncertain when the tradition of the first pitch began, but newspapers have taken note of American politicians throwing a celebratory first pitch as early as the 1890s. On April 16, 1892, Governor William McKinley (who would later become US president) threw the baseball onto the field before the start of a game in Columbus, Ohio.

The tradition of the current US president throwing the first pitch as part of the Opening Day ceremonies was started by President William Taft, who threw the ball from the stands on April 14, 1910. Since Taft’s impromptu throw, nearly every US President has thrown a first pitch at least once. The first president to actually throw the first pitch from the pitcher’s mound was Ronald Reagan, in 1988. However, 80 years earlier, during an exhibition game in Japan, former Japanese prime minister Okuma Shigenobu threw the first pitch to a batter, who politely swung and missed on purpose—a tradition that continues with first pitches in Japan.

In the US, the president traditionally throws out the first pitch as part of the Opening Day ceremonies, during the World Series, or during the MLB All-Star Game. During other times, the first pitch is often performed by a celebrity or a notable local figure. Because throwing a baseball in a straight line for a long distance is not that easy—especially for non-players—the first pitch is often a wild or just plain bad throw that can end up being the subject of a viral video clip. At the same time, videos of first pitches sometimes get shared because they’re surprisingly good.