Running Taft
As baseball fans know, every stadium has some version of the “race” between innings where the fans can root for a meaningless computerized competition between different colored objects. In Seattle for instance, it’s speedboats. Usually these remain computerized.
The Washington Nationals have taken a different tack, having people in president outfits run the race. They have 4–the Mt. Rushmore presidents. Until now:
The most anticipated move of the Washington Nationals offseason was finally made Friday night, as the club announced that William Howard Taft would become the 5th Racing President.
The justification for this is that Taft was the first president to throw out a first pitch, for the Washington Senators in 1910.
The real reason: the world likes to see fat men run.
The clear next frontier is to have a James Madison character. The battle between a fat man and a tiny man who barely weighed 100 pounds is sure to enrapture the baseball-game attending public.
wyrm1:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:37 pm
Actually they need someone to be the lovable loser of the races, since they stupidly allowed Teddy to win a race.
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:39 pm
Could be worse. They could have picked Buchanan, or Nixon, or (FSM forbid!) Shrub!
Dave:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:42 pm
Madison should beat Taft, especially if you tell him the White House is on fire.
Michael Rebain:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Sorry, Rushmore is Rushmore. No additions required. Unless it’s FDR in a wheelchair.
Mike Smith:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:45 pm
I believe that the between-innings races began here in Texas with the Texas Rangers. They initiated a “Dot Race” where three dots, colored red, green, and yellow, would race and the crowd would choose a dot and cheer for it. The announcer would intone that the race was for entertainment purposes only: “No wagering please.”
The sneaky secret was that for years and for some unknown reason, the Red Dot always won the season series and frequently cheated in races to win them.
It is less silly and less fun now at The Ballpark.
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Really brilliant idea. No snark.
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Not Fenway. They couldn’t figure a way to monetize it.
rbcoover:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
How about just the leg braces?
rbcoover:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:49 pm
They should do a race between people, horses, and an oncoming flood of molasses.
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:49 pm
I wondered who to blame.
With that good a team, you shouldn’t have to create “fun” for anybody older than 10.
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:52 pm
Wow! What’s the blog comment equivalent to a triple word score? An old Boston historical reference!
Davis:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Chris Christie!
Erik Loomis:
January 27th, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Win.
Jim Lynch:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:07 pm
“They” lost me when clubs began to play popular tunes at games. It apparently never occurred to them that there is always a percentage of fans who will despise whatever song it is that is played. I mean, come on, “Sweet Caroline”? Fuck You, Turn It Off!
bob_is_boring:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:10 pm
Beat me to it.
commie atheist:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:11 pm
Apparently they put Taft on a diet. Disappointing.
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:15 pm
Oh FSM, yes! Especially that one.
I’m old enough to remember nothing but live organ music at sports venues – I certainly don’t want to go back to John Kiley playing for the Sox, Bruins, and Celtics!
Marching bands! That’s the ticket!
Vance Maverick:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Alas, Wikipedia tells me Robert Coover’s middle name is “Lowell”.
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:17 pm
Boooo!!
Next there gonna’ roll out some kind of ripped Santa. Boo!
Erik Loomis:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
This is completely unacceptable.
MAJeff:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:21 pm
Boston’s got that one covered: http://www.ssrunners.org
Sherm:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:36 pm
You might feel differently if you took children to a game. The kids love the music, the races, the tee-shirt tosses, etc..
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:37 pm
Not all fit any reasonable definition of “ripped.”
MAJeff:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:38 pm
True. Several do, though.
Origuy:
January 27th, 2013 at 5:49 pm
Go to a minor league game sometime. The San Jose Giants (class A California League) used to have fans run the bases for prizes and have players throw balls at a junker car, trying to break headlights. I don’t know if they still do. Minor league games are a lot of fun for a lot less money, especially if you have kids.
Jim Lynch:
January 27th, 2013 at 6:21 pm
The kids would also enjoy cigars and beer. That doesn’t mean they should be exposed to them.
Murc:
January 27th, 2013 at 6:27 pm
They would?
My experience has always been that when kids (and I’m assuming you mean preteens here) manage to get their hands on either booze or smokes, their reaction is near-universally “GROSS.”
rbcoover:
January 27th, 2013 at 6:35 pm
I used to get his emails sometimes, since our Yahoo! account usernames were very close. After a while I found out the right address for him and just started forwarding the emails. He was nice enough to thank me.
Hogan:
January 27th, 2013 at 6:39 pm
The Trenton Thunder do that too. They also have a golden retriever who fetches the bats.
bill:
January 27th, 2013 at 6:52 pm
San Francisco Giants: John Sutter, Willie Brown, Carol Doda, Emperor Norton. Fifth guy: Carlos Santana.
Hogan:
January 27th, 2013 at 7:10 pm
Phillies: Benjamin Franklin, Nicholas Biddle, W. C. Fields, Teddy Pendergrass. Fifth man: Joey Coyle.
Sherm:
January 27th, 2013 at 7:12 pm
My five year old loves beer! Little bastard will take a chug whenever he can get away with it.
commie atheist:
January 27th, 2013 at 7:34 pm
Fifth guy: Carlos Santana.
Or Grace Slick, who would be falling-down drunk for every race. I keed, Gracie, I keed.
efgoldman:
January 27th, 2013 at 7:38 pm
Carol Doda? This Carol Doda?
Malacylpse:
January 27th, 2013 at 7:53 pm
I always let mini-Mal have a sip whenever she wanted, as this way she remembers she hates beer. Then, unfortunately, she had a raspberry lambic.
Malacylpse:
January 27th, 2013 at 7:57 pm
Because without that Carol Doda, would anybody not be rooting for Joshua I?
herr doktor bimler:
January 27th, 2013 at 8:13 pm
Oh yes. I remember letting the Doktorling Sonja taste a Boon Kriek once, and her reaction of surprise to the fact that for once I was actually drinking something tasty.
Hogan:
January 27th, 2013 at 8:17 pm
You run the race with the cultural icons you have, not the cultural icons you wish you had.
bill:
January 27th, 2013 at 8:25 pm
The one and only.
Sherm:
January 27th, 2013 at 8:48 pm
I have to admit, I kind of like the sausage races in Milwaukee.
JKTHs:
January 27th, 2013 at 9:10 pm
Goddammit. Now I’m looking forward to the races 90% less than if there was a cartoonishly fat Taft.
Richard:
January 27th, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Not Dodger Stadium
Sherm:
January 27th, 2013 at 9:38 pm
They do them after the fans leave in the middle of the sixth. Just kidding. But they don’t have a digital race on the scoreboard? At mets games, it’s airplanes. At yankee games, it’s subway cars. It would thus make sense that you’d have cars at dodger stadium.
ResumeMan:
January 28th, 2013 at 2:15 am
Well the best part of those races was the time about 10 years ago when the visitors’ 4th outfielder took a whack at the Bratwurst with his bat as the sausages ran by. Classic.
ResumeMan:
January 28th, 2013 at 2:20 am
OK I couldn’t resist and Googled it. It was actually the 1st baseman and he actually whacked the Italian Sausage:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/italian-sausage-gets-beaten/1jrc9jzvf
Mrs Tilton:
January 28th, 2013 at 2:25 am
the world likes to see fat men run
Why isn’t Campos all over this?
The clear next frontier is to have a James Madison character
Come on. You have to admit, a Madison/Taft Death Match would be something to see.
Erik Loomis:
January 28th, 2013 at 2:27 am
Poor Randall Simon.
dave brockington:
January 28th, 2013 at 2:35 am
Not presidential, but contemporaries of Madison: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
Doug:
January 28th, 2013 at 3:09 am
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
NorthLeft12:
January 28th, 2013 at 7:48 am
Well, it is a baseball game people. There is more sustained excitement in that race than anything that can happen in a baseball game, outside of a rundown with a really quick runner between a few terrible fielders.
And yes I
amused to be a dedicated baseball fan.actor212:
January 28th, 2013 at 9:29 am
Wouldn’t Taft make more sense as a sumo-wrestler costume? He and Fillmore could bump it out.
Woodrowfan:
January 28th, 2013 at 10:03 am
and have a Redcoat fire the starting gun!
drkrick:
January 28th, 2013 at 10:08 am
A lot of us were hoping that Teddy’s wins last year would mark the end of the races now that the team on the field is likely to be worth watching. No such luck.
drkrick:
January 28th, 2013 at 10:11 am
You have to be able to see the costume from the upper deck.
jdN:
January 28th, 2013 at 10:55 am
MarsBar-y v. Madison?
rea:
January 28th, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Carlos Santana plays catcher for Cleveland.