First Pitch

I have seen a number of ceremonial first pitches this last week. Between the Biggest Loser homecoming show and the American Idol homecoming show, there were a few clips of the contestants throwing the ceremonial first pitches at the closest big-league stadia.

I have a couple of things I wonder about the ceremonial first pitch, in general.

The first is this: why is this ceremony limited to baseball? If I were to be some temporary ceremonial celebrity, I would want to perform the ceremonial first kick-off at a football game. Or even the ceremonial first puck-drop at a hockey game. But baseball?

Some of you may have noticed that I forgot to say that I would want to perform the ceremonial first basketball toss-up thingy. I didn’t forget – I don’t care much for basketball or baseball. I think I would rather be invited to a baseball game than a basketball game because at least baseball is outside and there are things to do other than watch the game.

The second is this: why does no one ever try to throw out the runner at first? If I were invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch, I would pull aside the first baseman and warn him to be ready. And I would have him tell the ump to prepare to call an out. Then, instead of throwing the first pitch to the catcher, I would instead throw it to first base.

In case you’re wondering why I would try to throw out a runner when there’s no one on first base: why throw out a first pitch when there’s no batter?

a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

Hebrews 8:2

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This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 11:17 pm and has been carefully placed in the Sports category.

4 Responses to “First Pitch”

  1. Arby Says:

    I’d like to throw the ceremonial first belly-buck at a Sumo Wrestling match!

  2. Burrill Says:

    There are ceremonial puck drops at certain hockey games; they’re just less common than first pitches. Why? Who knows. Maybe because hockey organizations tend to save ceremonial puck drops for real honorees (like long-retired hockey greats), instead of letting any C-list celebrity or 15-minutes-of-fame phenom drop by and get another few seconds in the spotlight.

  3. Some Guy Says:

    I think I realized why baseball has it – there’s no clock. Baseball can take time for meaningless ceremonies because time doesn’t matter in baseball.

    Oh, and I remembered today that a basketball game starts with a tip-off. I don’t know why I couldn’t think of that yesterday (or bother looking it up either).

  4. Burrill Says:

    Also something to consider: first pitches don’t require special consideration, whereas puck drops require carpet on the ice so the honoree doesn’t slip and fall.

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