Ceremonial first pitch

The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to the pitcher or catcher of the home team, but the ritual changed after United States President Ronald Reagan threw the first pitch on the field at an unscheduled appearance at a Baltimore Orioles game. Now, the guest stands in front of the pitcher's mound and throws towards home plate. The ceremonial thrower sometimes stands on the mound (as a pitcher would). The recipient of the pitch is usually a player from the home team.
==List of ceremonial first pitches==
The following wrestlers have participated in ceremonial first pitches:
Date 	Wrestler 	Game 	Location 	Notes
July 26, 2011 	The Miz 	Cleveland Indians vs. Los Angeles Angels 	Cleveland, Ohio 	
August 25, 2013 	Goldberg 	Miami Marlins vs. Colorado Rockies 	Miami 	This was part of Legends of Wrestling Night.
May 19, 2015 	Goldberg 	New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals 	New York City 	This was used to advertise the upcoming Legends of Wrestling event being held at Citi Field.
May 1, 2016 	Charlotte Flair & Ric Flair 	Chicago Cubs vs. Atlanta Braves 	Chicago 	
July 28, 2017 	Ric Flair 	Miami Marlins vs. Cincinnati Reds 	Miami 	
June 13, 2018 	Jushin Liger 	Japan's Hanshin Tigers vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 	 	
August 24, 2018 	Ian Riccaboni 	Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders 	Allentown, Pennsylvania	
September 5, 2018	The Miz 	Cleveland Indians vs. Kansas City Royals 	Cleveland, Ohio 	This first pitch was the primary subject of the Miz TV episode "Miz's First Pitch."
April 24, 2019 	Johnny Gargano 	Cleveland Indians vs. Miami Marlins 	Cleveland, Ohio 	
May 6, 2019 	Kazuchika Okada 	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks vs. Orix Buffaloes 	Fukuoka, Japan 	This first pitch is featured on the 2019 BBM (Ceremonial First Pitch) Kazuchika Okada (No.16) card.
May 14, 2019 	Hiroshi Tanahashi 	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Miyagi 	This first pitch is featured on the 2019 BBM (Ceremonial First Pitch) Hiroshi Tanahashi (No.21) card.
May 29, 2019 	Jay Lethal 	Tampa Bay Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays 	St. Petersburg, Florida	
July 3, 2019 	Hangman Page 	Mississippi Braves vs. Jacksonville Shrimp 	Jacksonville, Florida 	
August 1, 2021 	Alexa Bliss 	Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland Indians 	Chicago, Illinois 	
August 10, 2021 	Eva Marie 	San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks 	San Francisco 	
August 12, 2021 	Britt Baker 	Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals 	Pittsburgh 	
September 2, 2021	Paul Wight 	Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates 	Chicago, Illinois 	This helped advertise All Out 2021 which took place three days later.
April 22, 2022 	Moose, Tasha Steelz 	Hudson Valley Renegades vs. Brooklyn Cyclones 	Fishkill, New York 	
May 8, 2022 	Sasha Banks 	Chicago White Sox vs. Boston Red Sox 	Boston 	
May 30, 2022 	Happy Corbin 	Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers 	Chicago 	This event was the first ever "WWE Day" held at Wrigley Park. It served as promotion for the Hell in a Cell 2022 pay-per-view event.
June 14, 2002 	Ricky Starks, Thunder Rosa, Will Hobbs	St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates 	St. Louis, Missouri 	
August 24, 2022 	Paul Wight 	Milwaukee Brewers vs. 	Milwaukee 	This was used to promote AEW Dynamite.
June 7, 2022 	Shane Strickland 	Miami Marlins vs. Washington Nationals 	Miami 	
July 22, 2022 	Bianca Belair 	New York Mets vs. San Diego Padres 	New York City 	This was part of a special branded WWE Night at Citi Field.
August 16, 2022 	Liv Morgan 	St. Louis Cardinals vs. Colorado Rockies 	St. Louis, Missouri 	
September 4, 2022	John Silver 	Chicago White Sox vs. Minnesota Twins 	Chicago, Illinois 	This was used to advertise All Out 2022.
==Gallery==
Goldberg 5-19-15.jpg|Goldberg
Johnny Gargano -April 24, 2019 First Pitch.jpg|Johnny Gargano
Alexa Bliss 8-1-21 First Pitch.jpg|Alexa Bliss
Paul Wight 9-2-21.jpg|Paul Wight
Bianca Belair 7-22-22 First Pitch.jpg|Bianca Belair
==External links==
* on Wikipedia
Category:Baseball culture