The political landscape is as divisive as ever. There are still a few things that we can nearly all agree on, baseball is the quintessential American sport, and every U.S. President since the Civil War has had a close association with the sport.

There have been some presidents with a tight bond to the game like both Bush presidents and some are more known for their love of another sport (Gerald Ford with football), but still have interesting baseball stories about them.

‘The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball & the White House’ by Curt Smith chronologically goes through each presidency from the infancy of the game thru Teddy Roosevelt and then longer stories about each president all the way to the current president, Donald J. Trump.

Before reading this book, I knew about the Bush family relationship with the game. George H.W. Bush was a pretty good player at Yale and had an association with the game the rest of his life. His son, George W. Bush, actually once owned the Texas Rangers. I also knew Franklin Roosevelt helped keep Major League Baseball alive during World War II. I learned so much more by reading Curt Smith’s book.

One interesting fact I found in this book was how Howard Taft was the first president to throw out the first pitch. This tradition has been a mainstay president after president. The most memorable presidential first pitch was when George W. Bush threw a first pitch in the World Series after the 9/11 tragedy. He thoroughly practiced the pitch and was able to throw a strike. That moment is etched in history as one of the first moments after 9/11 that everything felt a little more ‘normal’. In a vacuum, it’s a bit odd to think about a ceremonial first pitch could mean that much, but it did.

‘The Presidents and the Pastime’ ($29.95 U.S.) is an interesting book for presidential historians, political enthusiasts and even the most casual baseball fan. I highly recommend it.

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About the Author…

Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.