WASHINGTON — Another Racing President will make his debut at Nationals Park as the Washington team takes on the Miami Marlins Sunday.
Herbert “Herbie” Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, who once stated “baseball is the greatest of all team sports” was introduced Sunday by the White House Historical Association.
The collaboration with the Nationals is in the second year of a multi-year partnership that will expand the efforts to educate the public on the history of the White House — and have a little fun.
Hoover joins George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, William Howard Taft and Calvin Coolidge, who was a visiting racer. The presidents typically race during the middle of the fourth inning of each home game.
Game time Sunday is 1:35 p.m.
The announcement of Hoover’s addition to the team coincides with the association’s new Hoover 2016 Official White House Christmas Ornament. The ornament, according to the association, is a vintage fire truck design commemorating the 1929 Christmas Eve four-alarm fire of the West Wing.
“The partnership with the Washington Nationals has been exciting for us at the Association,” said Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association. “It’s important to us to share the history of the White House with fans of the Nationals and all baseball fans nationwide.”
Hoover, who was president during the tumultuous time of the Great Depression, 1929-1933, made the “Star Spangled Banner” the national anthem, now sung before most every sporting event, including baseball.
Fans hope he will run more successfully than he did back in 1932, when he was beaten out of a second term by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Stay tuned for the Herbie bobble head giveaway.
