Obama to risk rotator-cuff injury at Nats game

Looks like President Obama will toss the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals’ home opener on April 13, the Washington Times reported Saturday, citing an anonymous source from the team. (Via DCist.)

If the report is correct, Obama would join the ranks of past presidents from George W. Bush to William Howard Taft in partaking in one of official Washington’s nicer traditions by kicking off the home team’s season. Unfortunately, the president also will partake in a less proud tradition by standing on the same mound as such lackluster hurlers as Luis Ayala, Ray King and Levale Speigner.

The lowly Nats invited Obama to attend their opener, against the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, back in February. The president also is weighing an invitation to throw the first pitch at the season’s first home game for his hometown Chicago White Sox against the Kansas City Royals on April 6. The Cincinnati Reds asked Obama to take on the ceremonial first-pitch duties at their match-up with the White Sox in the annual exhibition Civil Rights Game on June 20.

–Jeffrey Young