As has been mentioned in comments earlier this morning, the Nationals invited President Bush to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the team’s season opener against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park on March 30. Being a huge baseball fan and having nothing better to do lately, the president naturally accepted.

There is some precedent for this. Bush also threw the first pitch on April 14, 2005, when the Nationals played their first game at RFK (pictured left). Still, we can’t help feeling that this is a poor call on the part of the Nationals. Given his early and fierce opposition to the stadium deal in the first place, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty might naturally not be at the top of the list for the team. But surely there was someone else. Someone who, oh, say, will still be living here this time next year.

Then again, we’re having trouble coming up with the perfect alternative. Chuck Brown? Tim Russert? Harry Reid? Vincent Gray? None of those quite satisfy us, either. Who would you have liked to see toss out the first pitch?

White House photo by Eric Draper