Happy Presidents Baseball Day

Today we celebrate all 44 of our Presidents and the game of baseball, from George Washington, who played the game of Rounders at Valley Forge, to Barack Obama, a Chicago White Sox fan.

Presidents Day is observed on the Monday in between the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, February 12th, 1809, and the Father of our Country, George Washington, born on February 22nd, 1732.

Lincoln had the pleasure of playing the earliest forms of baseball.

President Andrew Johnson was the first President to host a baseball club, in 1865.

Here's some more Presidential baseball stuff I found on the old Internet, starting with President #1.

President Andrew Johnson was the first President to host a baseball club, in 1865.

President Taft started the tradition of Opening Day First Pitches, at a Washington Senator's game in 1910.

It's a tradition that has not stopped, with every sitting President since tossing out a first pitch on Opening Day.

I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. .. President Dwight D. Eisenhower

"I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going." - Franklin Roosevelt (during WWII)

"I think that both baseball and the country will endure." - John F. Kennedy

"I had a life-long ambition to be a professional baseball player, but nobody would sign me." President Ford

"I really do love baseball." - President Ronald Reagan

"I think just about everybody ought to get a second chance and I'd like to see it worked out, because he (Pete Rose) brought a lot of joy to the game, and he gave a lot of joy to people, and he's paid a price - God knows, he's paid a price." President Clinton

Then there's the Presidents Bush, #41, George Herbert Walker and#43, George Walker, father and son.

In addition to the Presidential first pitch, President Bush #41 actually played baseball in college, at Yale.

And while at Yale, the young future President met the Sultan of Swat, The Bambino himself, George Herman "Babe" Ruth.

"He (Babe Ruth) complimented the Yale ball field, it was like a putting green, it was so beautiful." President GHW Bush

Baseball and the White House, American History coming together as our young country formed a more perfect union.

Play Ball!