A look at U.S. presidents' history with the national pastime

With new commissioner Rob Manfred taking over, the case of suspended all-time hits leader Pete Rose being reinstated and elected into the Hall of Fame has been in the news. Rose thinks Manfred should allow the Baseball Writers' Association of America to debate his case for the 10 years and decide whether he belongs in Cooperstown. Manfred is mum on the subject. Not so with former President Jimmy Carter. In an Oct. 30, 1995 opinion piece for USA Today, Carter wrote that baseball should forgive Rose for betting on baseball. He said that presidents have to consider pardons of criminals for the sake of peace and the baseball world should do the same for Rose, even though Carter said he hated to see Rose break fellow Georgian Ty Cobb's all-time hits record in September 1985. Baseball has always had a special bond with the White House, at least going back to 1910, when President William Taft, the 27th president, became the first to throw the ceremonial first pitch when he did so at a game in Washington, D.C. He was also the first president to be photographed at a game. Taft went to his first game in Washington during 1909 and Walter Johnson, the star pitcher, said that team was so nervous they "booted" the game to the Red Sox. Taft was quoted saying that he liked "slugging games," which means today, he'd support Manfred's ideas of finding ways to increase the game's run production. President Harry Truman, who in 1950 threw out two first pitches, one lefty and the other right-handed, attended the most games while in office (16). Richard Nixon attended 11 games, George H.W. Bush and Franklin Roosevelt 10 each. In honor of the holiday that's been going on for 135 years in some form or another, here is more presidential baseball trivia, gleaned from research of presidential papers, the Hall of Fame and Internet sites: * The 1917 World Series program had a picture of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president, throwing out the first pitch from Game 2 of the 1915 World Series with a quote that said, "A big enough boy to enjoy the national game - and a man big enough to guide our country through its greatest crisis.'' * Calvin Coolidge, president No. 30, threw out the first pitch in Washington before Game 1 of the 1924 World Series against the Giants and then attended both Games 6 and 7, won by Washington 2-1 and 4-3, respectively. On June 18, 1925, Coolidge was on hand to give Walter Johnson his AL MVP trophy. * Herbert Hoover, the 31st president, liked talking to baseball reporters, saying that he would like to see baseball change rules so that batters got four strikes instead of three. The reason: He said good pitching is boring. ... According to Baseball Almanac, Hall of Famer Ted Williams, once a Senators manager, admired Hoover, saying, "Here's a man who is blamed for things that were not his fault, yet he never complained and continued to help his country for the rest of his life. To me, that's a real man." * A month before he died of cancer in 1948, Babe Ruth, in a New York hospital, wrote a letter dated July 13 to Harry Truman, the 33rd president, inviting him to the premier of the movie, "The Babe Ruth Story" Truman wrote back to decline, saying he couldn't leave Washington because congress was in session. Ruth died on Aug. 16, 1948. * When the New York Yankees' Don Larsen threw his perfect game in the 1956 World Series, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president, wrote Larsen a letter of congratulations, saying, "It is noteworthy even when anybody achieves perfection in anything. It has been so long since anyone pitched a perfect big league game that I have to go back to my generation of ballplayers to recall such a thing - and that is truly a long time ago." ... Eisenhower was referring to last perfecto prior to Larsen, which was thrown in 1922 by the Chicago White Sox's Charlie Robertson in a 2-0 with at Detroit. * President Richard Nixon, the 37th president, was at RFK Stadium on July 15, 1969 when the Detroit Tigers turned a 5-4-3 triple play in the fifth inning. The Senators' Eddie Brinkman hit the ball to Tigers third baseman Don Wert, who stepped on third to get Paul Casanova. Wert threw to second baseman Ike Brown to force Barry Moore. Brown relayed to first baseman Bill Freehan to complete the play. * The 38th president, Gerald Ford, made the first presidential telephone call to a World Series champion in 1975 when he called the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse and talked to manager Sparky Anderson as well as Rose, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan. Ford made sure to let them know he knew that it was the first title for the Reds since 1940. ... On May 4, 1976, Ford was in Chicago's Wrigley Field to honor Cubs outfielder Rick Monday, who earlier, before a game in Dodger Stadium, grabbed a flag from two protesters planning to burn it. * Bill Clinton, the 42nd president, was in attendance at Camden Yards when the Orioles' Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 2,131st consecutive game on Sept. 6, 1995. Clinton also threw out the first pitch of the first game in Cleveland's Jacobs Field. * Bush brought Queen Elizabeth to a game in Camden Yards on May 5, 1991. Oakland won 6-3, but the two stayed for only two innings. Bush was also the first president to throw out a first pitch in Canada.