An exhibit at The George W. Bush Presidential Center will explore the relationship between baseball and U.S. presidents.
Bush was, as many people know, a part owner in the Texas Rangers in the 1990s. But there are many other baseball-related tidbits that are not as commonly known -- including that Abraham Lincoln played catch with his sons on a baseball field constructed behind the White House, or that William Howard Taft was the first president to throw out a ceremonial "first pitch."
Baseball: America's Presidents, America's Pastime, runs from March 21 through Oct. 4, and shows how baseball has mirrored trends in American society, personifying our racial, economic, and national struggles.
Here is more from the Bush Center on the exhibit:
During good times and bad, presidents have connected with this uniquely American sport. Just as George W. Bush attended a World Series game after 9/11, Herbert Hoover attended the World Series in 1929 and 1931 to calm fears during the Great Depression. Harry S. Truman used the sport to return the Nation to a sense of normalcy. He threw out the first pitch at a game six days after Japan surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945. His presence meant the war was over and peace had returned.
In telling this important piece of our history, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum is using baseball-related documents and artifacts from its archives as well as from other presidential libraries.
The exhibit also draws from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and other collections.
