Evening star., 1936-04-10

= OMET1ME tomorrow, II the gen.
tleman at 1900 Pennsylvania
avenue is receiving, Uncle Clark
- Griffith will blow himself to a
shoe shine, throw away his fiat cigar
butt and perform chore that base
ball ought to recognize some day with
monument to the Old Fox. The
time has come. you see, to once more
remind the great American sports
public that base ball still is the great
American pastime.
Sometimes this fact is lost on the
peepul. Statistics show, for instance,
that basket ball actually outdraws
base ball despite shorter season.
But base ball is the only sport
that officially is launched each
year by the President of the
United States.
Never has the President. by COM
parison, thrown out the first rassler
for Mons. Jacques Curley, persuasive
as Mons. Curley can be. He never
has thrown out the first fighter for
Mike Jacobs or the first foot ball
for Rose Bowl game. Only to
base ball is accorded this honor and
base ball really owes it all to Griff.
whose mission at the White House,
of course. will wind up with President
and Mrs. Roosevelt being season.
passed for 1886 and pledged to oc.
cupy box next Tuesday, when the
Yankees and Nationals inaugurate
tho Avn 7
Taft Started Custom.
IT SEEMS rather fitting, at this
time, to inspect the origin of this
presidential custom. You see, this
is Clark Griffith's silver jubilee as
Washington's diamond maestro and
this also will mark the twenty-fifth
year that a President of the United
States will lob a shiny new ball some
where in the direction of so ball
players. who will line up from first
base to home plate.
twenty-five years ago Griff came
to the Capital as the new manager OF
the Nationals and then was born in
the Old Fox fertile brain the inspira-
ton that weighs so heavily in base
balls favor when its moguls insist it
still is the traditional game Of
America, the national pastime.
William Howard Taft occu.
pied the White House at the
time and Griff prevailed upon
the President to attend the
opening game and throw out
the first ball.
1t was complete success. President
Taft heaved the ball moderately well
and, best of all, $4,000 spectators
paid to see the Nationals start sea-
son that finally wound up with WASH
ington in second place
No President since Taft has ever
failed to attend an opening game, not
even Woodrow Wilson in 1917. The
Democratic Wilson and the Repub-
lican Warren G. Harding, incidentally,
jointly hold rank as the No. l presi-
dental base ball fans.
Wilson, Harding Good Fans.
7 TNCLE CLARK staunchly remains
an unbiased invitation extender
but Griff has a very good reason for
expecting his 1886 Nationals to get
off to a flying start next Tuesday.
President Roosevelt never has seen a
Washington team lose.
Hes great season starter" Grit
was observing yesterday as he watched
the rain wash the Nationals into an
other day of idleness. "It started back
in 1917 when President Roosevelt was
Assistant Secretary of the Navy. We
won that opener and when we won
the only game Of the 1888 world
series President Roosevelt was In his
box.
'In 1884 we lost the opener,
but President Roosevelt left in
the fifth inning and didn't see
1t. Later he told me he should
have stayed. Last year he saw
the opener again and we won."
OF the six Presidents whose terms
in the White House have spanned the
last IS years-Taft. Wilson, Harding,
Coolidge, Hoover and Roosevelt-the
most frequent diamond spectators
we're Wilson and Harding. President
Wilson not only holds the record for
throwing out the most first balls
he also used his pass fire.
quently during the season. Even after
be was stricken with partial paralysis.