Obama Invited To Throw Out First Pitch

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Nov 6, 2008 5:25PM

Sure, we're proud somebody from our home town was elected president. But even more importantly, the future Commander-in-Chief is a White Sox fan! So it comes as no big surprise that White Sox GM Kenny Williams wasted no time in inviting Obama to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day -- April 6, when the Sox will host the Kansas City Royals.

"I'll make an executive decision right now," Williams said Wednesday, while at baseball's GM meetings. "Let this be a formal invitation: If he would like to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day next year, we can find a spot for him." It wouldn't be the first time Obama has done so -- he threw out the first pitch prior to Game 2 of the ALCS in 2005, when the White Sox won the World Series.

But when he's leader of the free world, will he still have the time? Since Taft in 1910, it has been tradition for the president to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day. They often do so at a game a little closer to the White House -- say DC or Baltimore. But we'd think Obama would find a way to return home to support his team. And it'd give him the opportunity to give Kenny Williams a hard time about his off-season moves.

Image from Obama's Senate site