William Howard Taft Throws First Presidential Pitch

William Howard Taft

Pol Light Moment #126 occurred on April 14, 1910, when William Howard Taft (1857-1930) threw the first ceremonial Presidential pitch on the opening day of the Major League Baseball season. In doing so Taft started an opening day tradition carried on by almost all Presidents who followed him. William Howard Taft served as President of the United States from 1909-1913.

The baseball game William Howard Taft threw his Presidential pitch at was played on April 14, 1910 in Washington D.C.. In the game the Washington Senators defeated the Philadelphia Athletics 3-0 and Walter Johnson was the winning pitcher with a complete game shutout (Society for American Baseball Research, Walter Johnson Impresses President Taft on Opening Day, Steven V. Rice).

A story in The Washington Post about the game said,

President Taft threw the first ball into the diamond and opened the season with a true presidential flourish. He did it with his good, trusty right arm and the virgin sphere scudded across the diamond as a die to the pitcher's box, where Walter Johnson, also the possessor of a good trusty right arm, gathered it in and started winding up for one of his rifle shots across the plate (Taft Tosses Ball, The Washington Post, April 15, 1910 as quoted in Boundary Stones blog, April 13, 2015).

A day after the game Walter Johnson sent the ball that was thrown for the ceremonial first pitch to William Howard Taft and asked that he sign it for him. President Taft signed it along with an inscription, "For Walter Johnson, with the hope that he may continue to be as formidable as in yesterday's game (Society for American Baseball Research, Walter Johnson Impresses President Taft on Opening Day, Steven V. Rice)." Indeed Walter Johnson went on to have a hall of fame baseball career winning 417 games from 1907-1927.

Steve Goldman wrote a history of Presidential first pitches for SB Nation.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

The photo of William Howard Taft is in the Public Domain.

John Kasich Declares Scarlet Letter Saturday

John Kasich

Pol Light Moment #87 ocurred on November 29, 2013, when John Kasich made a resolution declaring Saturday, November 30, 2013 as 'Scarlet Letter Saturday' in Ohio, urging that the letter 'M' not be used whenever possible.  John Kasich is the Governor of Ohio, serving from 2011-the present. From 1983-2001, John Kasich represented Ohio's 12th District in the House of Representatives.

On November 30, 2013, the Ohio State Buckeyes played their annual rival football game with the Michigan Wolverines.  In order to show their support for Ohio State, John Kasich, himself a 1974 graduate of Ohio State University, and Lt. Governor Mary Taylor, made a resolution, saying, "We do hereby recognize Saturday, November 30, 2013 as 'Scarlet Letter Saturday' throughout Ohio. We encourage all Ohioans to avoid using the letter 'M' when possible (ESPN, November 29, 2013)."

The following is a tweet that John Kasich made about the resolution on November 30, 2013.

Re*e*ber, it's Scarlet Letter Day in Ohio. Go #Buckeyes! http://t.co/TA2NSzU9x2
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) November 30, 2013

The following are some news articles on John Kasich urging Ohioans to refrain from using the letter "m" on November 30, 2013.

• ESPN, Ohio Urged to Boycott Letter 'M'
• USA Today, Gov. Kasich has fun with Ohio State vs. Michigan game
• Fox News, Governor Kasich Declares "Scarlet Letter Saturday" ahead of Ohio State-Michigan game

The text of the entire resolution for Scarlet Letter Saturday is available on the State of Ohio website.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

Photo: The photo of John Kasich is in the Public Domain.

John Boehner Keeps Capitol Tours Open

John Boehner

Pol Light Moment #51 is when the Speaker of the House, John Boehner announced on March 7, 2013, that tours of the United States Capitol would not be cancelled due to sequestration budget cuts. John Boehner has served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives since January 3, 2011. He has represented Ohio's 8th Congressional District since 1991.

The following is a video of John Boehner making the announcement about the United States Capitol tours remaining open after the sequestration budget cuts, because the House leadership made other cuts that did not impact the tours.

Here is a copy of the letter John Boehner wrote announcing that United States Capitol tours would remain open.

March 7, 2013

The White House announced today that White House tours are being canceled effective Saturday, March 9, 2013 until further notice, due to staffing reductions resulting from sequestration.

Sequestration, as you may know, is the term for the mandatory federal budget cuts that went into effect March 1 under the terms of a bipartisan budget law enacted in 2011. Under sequestration, federal agencies are required to find ways to reduce unnecessary spending within their budgets, and to do more with less, as many American families are being forced to do in the current economy. 

While I'm disappointed the White House has chosen to comply with sequestration by cutting public tours, I'm pleased to assure that public tours of the United States Capitol will continue. Under the leadership of the House officers and their teams, who oversee daily operations in the Capitol in consultation with the Office of the Speaker, planning for the possibility of sequestration has been underway for some time. Consequently, alternative spending reductions have been implemented within the Capitol complex to ensure public tours and other regular activities can proceed as they normally would. 

I encourage you and your family to visit the U.S. Capitol during your trip to Washington, D.C. If yo haven't already made arrangements through my office for a Capitol tour, I encourage you to do so. Simply contact my congressional office at 202-225-6205

Sincerely,

John Boehner   Source of Letter

Tours of the Capitol may be scheduled at www.visitthecapitol.gov.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

The photo of John Boehner used in this post is in the Public Domain.

John Glenn Returns to Space at Age 77

John Glenn

Pol Light Moment #17 is when John Glenn returned to space at age 77 on October 29, 1998. John was born on July 18, 1921. John Glenn was a United States Senator at the time.  John Glenn represented the State of Ohio in the U.S. Senate from 1974 to 1999.

John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth. He circled the earth three times on February 20, 1962 aboard Friendship 7 on the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission.  35 years later John Glenn convinced NASA to let him help them study the effects of aging on space travel and at age 77, he became the oldest man to again orbit the earth.  John Glenn was a crew member and the payload specialist in his return to space on the Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103) for a 9 day mission to orbit the earth from October 29, 1998 to November 7, 1998.

Here is a video of the launch where John Glenn returned to space on October 29, 1998.



The following chart from SpaceToday.org shows the comparison of the 1962 and 1998 flights John Glenn made orbiting the earth (Source).

John Glenn's Space Flights
1962	1998
Solo in capsule Friendship 7	With six others in shuttle Discovery
4 hours, 55 minutes	9 or 10 days
162 miles altitude	325 miles altitude
3 orbits 75,680 miles	144 orbits 3.6 million miles
360,000 pounds thrust Maximum 8 Gs	7 million pounds thrust Maximum 3 Gs

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

Photo: The photo of John Glenn in this post is in the Public Domain.