Next to his family and especially his bride of 73 years, Barbara, baseball was the love of the late former President George H.W. Bush.
His former White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater once said, “Baseball is the first thing.”
I covered the full Bush administration as a White House correspondent for the Washington Times. His time came during the turbulent end of the Cold War and many trips were to the old Soviet Union.
But there were also many to baseball stadiums, and I was fortunate enough to attend many of those.
A near pro when he played as captain for the Yale University team, Bush had many baseball-focused days, but one of his favorites came in 1991 when he brought Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio to the White House for a ceremony. Then they all got on Air Force One to attend the All Star Game in Toronto.
With permission from the Washington Times, below is the story of that day:
BASEBALL GOVERNS BUSH DAY
Paul Bedard THE WASHINGTON TIMES
SECTION: A
DATE: JULY 10, 1991
Page: A1
TORONTO – Sometimes, even presidents play hooky.
Like a mischievous schoolboy, President Bush sped through his work yesterday morning to free up the rest of the day to “play ball,” as he explained to a Rose Garden crowd.
Starting in his Oval Office, where he swapped stories with baseball greats Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, and ending at Toronto’s SkyDome, site of the 62nd Major League All-Star Game, Mr. Bush didn’t even try to appear hard at work.
And the best part about being president? Nobody minds when you play hooky.
For the better part of a week, the former Yale University baseball team captain had looked forward excitedly to yesterday’s events, not even trying to hide a 1,000-mile round-trip flight here behind the guise of a 45-minute “summit” with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
For example, in an interview with foreign reporters about the upcoming economic summit in London, Mr. Bush expressed disbelief that none of the correspondents asked him about the All-Star Game.
“I thought I’d have been asked about the baseball game in Canada,” he said in the interview released by the White House yesterday. “You failed to get on the most important subject.”
A reporter confessed, “Don’t follow sports.” Mr. Bush didn’t miss a beat.
“I do. My son’s involved with the Texas Rangers. I’d like to note that, and they’re in first place in the American League [West Division]. That’s very important.”
Even White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater didn’t try to cover up the real reason Mr. Bush flew here last night – if only to watch a few innings.
“Baseball is the first thing,” he said.
When pressed to put the meeting with Mr. Mulroney and their attendance at the All-Star Game together, Mr. Fitzwater laughed.
“You see, that is part of the marvelous mystic of the Bush foreign policy apparatus that you can tie all these things together in a kind of fabric of geopolitical thinking that is amazing to the world,” he said, chuckling all the way.
Mr. Bush conceded: “This is a nice combination – a little diplomacy and a little baseball.”
The president often has tied mini-summit meetings and sporting escapades together. And no one doubts his love of baseball.
For example, yesterday’s trip here included Mr. Bush’s second visit to the SkyDome and, like yesterday, the first visit was preceded by a short meeting with Mr. Mulroney and a news conference, or “scrum,” with a handful of reporters.
Before arriving here, Mr. Bush gave Mr. DiMaggio and Mr. Williams special presidential citations. Recalling his teen-age memories of the dramatic 1941 pennant race between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, Mr. Bush said he watched the box scores daily for details of the hits by the Red Sox’ Mr. Williams and the Yankees’ Mr. DiMaggio.
That summer Mr. Williams was to become the last major leaguer to hit .400 in a season and Mr. DiMaggio would assemble his remarkable streak of hitting safely in 56 straight games, a record that stands 50 years later.
Looking to Mr. DiMaggio, “the Yankee Clipper,” Mr. Bush said, “In those days, Joe, I was a Red Sox fan.”
In return, “the Splendid Splinter,” Mr. Williams, who at 72 still shuns suits and ties, told Mr. Bush: “I think you are doing a tremendous job. You’re looking at one of the greatest supporters you’ll ever have.”
In his citation, Mr. Bush called Mr. Williams “perhaps the greatest hitter of all time.”
Mr. DiMaggio, 76, elegantly dressed in a blue suit, was called “graceful afield and sterling at bat.”
Mr. Bush then invited the two Hall of Famers to accompany him on Air Force One to Toronto – and the SkyDome, where the legendary sluggers were honorary chairmen of the game.
After rushing through his meeting and news conference, the president visited the SkyDome dugouts for the National League and American League All-Stars.
Mr. Bush joked with Baltimore Orioles All-Star Cal Ripken Jr., who won an exhibition home-run-hitting contest Monday by knocking 12 of 22 pitches into the stands.
“I heard you cost the stadium some baseballs yesterday,” Mr. Bush quipped as the slugging shortstop laughed.
BUSH HONORS BASEBALL GREATS
The text of citations presented by President Bush to Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio yesterday at a Rose Garden ceremony:
The president of the United States of America awards this citation to Ted Williams. He was called “the Kid,” “the Splendid Splinter,” and in New England simply himself. He was an iconoclast and rebel who half a century ago batted .406, the last hitter to eclipse .400. His feat was particularly remarkable because, as No. 9 said, “hitting a baseball is the hardest task in sports.” Today, Ted Williams remains John Wayne in a Red Sox uniform, perhaps the greatest hitter of all time.
The president of the United States of America awards this citation to Joe DiMaggio. Graceful afield and sterling at bat, Joe DiMaggio bespoke excellence as few athletes ever have. In 1941, “Joltin’ Joe” electrified America by hitting safely in a record 56 straight games. Half a century later, no one has come close to that feat. A writer once said, “Watching Joe DiMaggio play baseball was like listening to Yasha Heifetz play the violin. Today, the nation still turns its eyes to you, No. 5, the Yankee Clipper.
