By Jeff Stuart
Far from the highs and lows of a tumultuous life in politics, Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, found refuge at the ballpark. As a kid I saw the then Vice President several times walking in what passed for a concourse at Griffith Stadium. To me, his smile seemed more comfortable there, than it did in his televised appearances.
I saw him ordering a hot dog at least once. I am told he also drank beer at the park, yelled at umpires, and sang along faithfully to “Take Me Our the Ball Game,” when the 7th inning rolled around. Nixon was not just a casual fan. He had knowledge of the game’s history and enough statistics at ready recall to make any SABR member proud. “I don’t know a lot about politics, but I do know a lot about baseball,” he once told reporters.
Nixon was scheduled to substitute for President Eisenhower by throwing out the ceremonical first pitch of the 1953 season. Eisenhower was scheduled to be in Augusta, GA on a golfing Holiday. On the eve of the opener former President Truman telegramed Calvin Griffith, “Best of Luck to you on opening day and every day. Watch out for that Nixon. Don’t let him throw you a curve. Your friend, Harry Truman.” Wilson Sporting Goods even presented Nixon with a special glove. A “Lefty Gomez” Model inscribed with the Vice President’s name. “I don’t know what I will do with it,” he said. “But it certainly is a fine looking glove.” The game was rained out, however, and President Eisenhower did the honors on April 16, the first opening game of his Presidency.
The VP knew the players. When Roy Sievers joined the Senators in 1954, he quickly became a favorite of the Vice President. He would meet with Roy on occasion to discuss baseball
The high point of sievers’ 17 year career came in 1957 when he hit .301 and won the Americaln League home run title with 42. The team awarded Roy a new station wagon. Nixon presented Sievers with the keys.
Later that season, Nixon’s famous “Kitchen Debate” with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev coincided with a horrible Senators losing streak. The vice president called Sievers from the Soviet Union
“The first thing he said was, ‘What the hell is wrong with the Senators?’ Sievers recalled. “And I said, ‘Mr. Vice President, we’re just not hitting good, the pitching’s not good.’ “He said, ‘I tell you what, I’ll be out the next night.’”
Nixon wrote more than thirty letters to various ballplayers about a variety of topics including baseball Jackie-Robinson openly campaigned for Richard Nixon in the Presdential Campaign in 1960, though he campaigned for Hubert Humphrey in 1968. Jackie even wrote a thank you letter to Nixon for naming him the best all around athlete. A fascinating collection of letters and correspondence between Robinson and the 37th President on subjects ranging from politics to civil rights is currently on display at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA. In 1972 at the White House and again in 1992, in Yorba Linda, President Nixon and son-in-law David Eisenhower announced their roster of All-Time Baseball Greats, selecting Robinson for honors both times. The two announced their later selections at a $200-a-plate luncheon at the Nixon Presidential Museum.Bob Feller, Harmon Killebrew, Johnny Bench, Maury Wills and Brooks Robinson were among the guests. A handwritten letter from President Richard Nixon congratulating Ted Williams on being named manager of the Washington Senators in 1969 brought $1,093 in April of 2009. Nixon named Ted-Williams as the greatest hitter he had ever seen.
Williams was named Manager of the Senators just as Nixon was beginning his first term of office.
The press may not have had “Nixon to kick around” after his 1962 defeat in his campaign for Governor of California. But Nixon still had a fair amound of respect in the baseball world.
In August of 1964 Nixon was one of the candidates for retiring commissioner Ford Frick’s job. Joe Cronin, Lee MacPhail, Gabe Paul and Judge Robert Cannon, legal counsel for the players, were others. But, in 1965, Four- Star army General William D. Eckert got the job. He had not attended a game in 10 years.
In the winter of 1966 the players were looking for a union representatlive. Judge Cannon turned them down, though he had been serving that role in an unofficial capacity for several years. The players then approached Nixon, who told them that he loved baseball with a passion but still had political ambition and other things to do at the moment. “I called Nixon, who I knew from Navy days in the Marianas. I had kept in contact with him and we were very friendly,” said Bob Feller. “They wanted him to take the job as their player’s representative, to run the Major League Baseball Players Association. He offered to do the law work for them for a very reasonable amount of money.”
Nixon suggested Marvin Miller, a former advisor to the United Steel workers of America. Miller, of course, got the job and was a mjor influence on the future of baseball labor-management relations.
The Original Senators were the Minnesota Twins when Nixon became President in 1968. But the quickly adopted the expansion Senators as his team. He attended 14 games as the Chief Executive and his image appeared on the cover of the 1970 Senator’s Yearbook. “Our number one fan,” the text read.
The 1969 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at RFK Stadium in Washington, a 9–3 victory for the NL. Shortly after, the Apollo 11 astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldren landed back on earth after their historic lunar mission. In his congratulatory call to the three, Nixon asked, “were you told how the All Star game came out?”
At the park he was absorbed, more fan than potician. No enemies list here. But Nixon rooted hard for the home team.
On June 11th, the President saw the Nats lost to Oakland in 13 innings, 6-4. “I never leave a game before the last pitch, because in baseball, as in life and especially politics, you never know what will happen,” he said.
On July 15, 1969 Nixon at RFK Stadium, Nixon became the first President ever to see a triple play. The Tigers pulled it off but the Nats won, 7-3.
Nixon’s son in law, David Eisenhower threw out the firs pitch at the 1970 home opener joined by his wife Julie and sister in law, Tricia Nixon Cox. Nixon himself, and his wife, Pat joined the game in progress in the 5th inning. The President threw out first pitch at first 1970 All-Star Game in Cincinnati.
Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, and Army Master Sergeant Daniel Pitzer, recently released from a North Viet Namese prison, represented the President in the 1971 opener. Pitzer threw out the first ball.
With one out in the home second on the evening of July 20th, 1971, Dick Bosman singled home a run just as the President, Mrs. Nixon, and daughter Julie arrived at the stadium on Tuesday, July 20th, with one out in the home second. Boz doubled home two more runs in the sixth inning. On the mound he struck out a career high ten batters. The Senators defeated the Brewers, five to one. It was the last Senators’ game the President would ever attend.
He loved to go to the Senators’ clubhouse and talk with players. “It was amazing how much President Nixon knew about baseball,” says Bosman
Nixon said he was “heartbroken.” in September 1971 when the news of the move of the team to Texas was announced. He felt that Washington was a good sports town, and hoped the Baltimore Orioles would schedule some of their games in Washington.
He met with Washington Mayor Walter E. Washington to discuss prospects of a new team. In a taped Oval Office conversation on October 13, 1971, the president mentioned the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians as possible replacements. “Short is a jerk,” Nixon declared. “… I sat behind him at games, and I can tell you — moaning and bitching all the time.”
He felt the tradition of the “Presidential Opener” should continue, indicating that he might throw out the first ball on the next opening day at Anaheim, California. He considered the Los Angeles Angels his new “home” team.
There was no Presidential opener for the 1972 baseball season which began with the first regular season player strike in MLB history. The season did not begin until April 15. Nixon met with Bobby Thomson & Ralph Branca of the Shot Heard Round the World fame in the White House that year. On April 6, 1973 he became the first President to toss an Opening Day pitch outside of Washington. Recently released POW Lt. Col Jose David Luna accompanied him.
On the evening of June 28, 1978 Nixon watched Gene Autry’s California Angels defeat the division leading Kansas City Royals, 9-5. He enjoyed himself enormously. “I remember the last time I was here was the 1973 Opening Day,” he recounted to sportscaster Dick Enberg before the game. “And I hope it’s a good omen because that day I remember Nolan Ryan pitched, the Angels won, 3-2, amd Frank Robinson, playing his first game for the Angels, as you may remember, hit one over the leftfield wall. And it was against Kansas City with Busby pitching.
Later that year at Anaheim Stadium, Nixon visited the visiting Orioles TV booth unexpectedly. Long time O’s announcer Bill O’Donnell seemed uncomfortable in the presence of the “disgraced” former President. But color man Brooks Robinson, who had been selected as one of the all time greats twice by the Nixon-Eisenhower duo, welcomed him warmly. The brief interview was strictly about baseball.
The following season the Angels won the American League’s Western Division wih the additon of talented free agents Rod Carew and Bobby Grich. Nixon, their biggest fan, bought two pairs of season tickets. “Since you haveobtained Carew, we know you are making every effort to bring a winner here, and we want to support you,” he informed team management. He listened to every away game on the radio and attended 21 home games. The Angels won 14 of those. “Donny Baylor tellls me he needs me here to get those hits,” he said. “So if it takes me to be here, I will drop whatever I’m doing to come out.” Grateful, the Angels players invited Nixon inot the clubhouse for the championship clinching celebration, including the ritual pouring champagne over his head.
In the 1980 World Series George Brett of the Royals had to leave game 2 because of hemorroids. Like people around office water coolers everywhere, Nixon had an opinion. “They put that in the paper. Damn. They shouldn’t do that. Who the hell wants to read about Hemorroids?”
Shirley Povich recieved the Jewish National Fund Man of the Year Award at an affair at Rockville’s Woodmont Country Club in December 1985, with Brooks Robinson, Warner Wolf and Sugar Ray Leonard in attendance, a telegram from Nixon was read that said, “Every true sports fan in Washington is a Shirley Povich fan.” Nixon said on more than one occasion that hewould like to have been a sports writer if things had turned out differently.
When his political exile took him to Newy York, Nixon was a frequent visitor to Yankee Stadium, where he watched games from George Steinbrenner’s private box.
Baseball people still had confidence in Nixon as Richard Nixon mediated a baseball umpire’s strike in 1986 successfully arbitrated a dispute between MLB and the umpires in 1986 to avert a strike.
In a June 1981 interview Nixon was quoted as saying,” If I had my life to live over again, I would have owned a baseball team in Southern California.” Amen.
