--- title: Donald Trump Won't Throw Washington Nationals First Pitch description: President Trump declined the invitation from the Washington Nationals to throw the pitch for the first game of the season. canonical: https://time.com/4716250/donald-trump-washington-nationals-mlb-opening-day/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-29T11:39:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:05:05.408Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Won't Throw the First Pitch for the Nationals, After All og:description: Trump reportedly declined the invitation from the team og:url: https://time.com/4716250/donald-trump-washington-nationals-mlb-opening-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta330221d127d4f55/6988c05bbc6cfc13c73e0acc/barack-obama-nationals-first-throw.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama throws out the og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Won't Throw the First Pitch for the Nationals, After All twitter:description: Trump reportedly declined the invitation from the team twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta330221d127d4f55/6988c05bbc6cfc13c73e0acc/barack-obama-nationals-first-throw.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Won't Throw the First Pitch for the Washington Nationals, After All  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 29, 2017 11:39 AM UTC  Barack Obama throws out the first pitch at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on baseball's opening day on April 5, 2010. Barack Obama throws out the first pitch at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on baseball's opening day on April 5, 2010.SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 29, 2017 11:39 AM UTC [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4710614/donald-trump-fbi-surveillance-house-intelligence-committee/) has reportedly declined an invitation to throw out the first pitch for the [Washington Nationals](http://time.com/3831458/statcast-baseball/) baseball team on [opening day](http://time.com/4266493/baseball-opening-day-photos/). The team had invited the President to perform the ceremonial task, the team’s spokesman told reporters in remarks reported by [ESPN.](http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/%5F/id/19022745/donald-trump-not-throw-first-pitch-washington-nationals-opening-day) Thirteen of Trump’s predecessors, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, threw out the first pitch for the team on opening day, ESPN reports. The tradition dates back to 1910, when President William Howard Taft threw the pitch for the team, then known as the Washington Senators. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4716250/donald-trump-washington-nationals-mlb-opening-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4716250/donald-trump-washington-nationals-mlb-opening-day/"},"headline":"President Trump Won't Throw the First Pitch for the Washington Nationals, After All","datePublished":"2017-03-29T11:39:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:05:05.408Z","description":"The tradition dates back to 1910, when President William Howard Taft threw the pitch for the Washington Senators.","url":"https://time.com/4716250/donald-trump-washington-nationals-mlb-opening-day/","keywords":["White House","Sports topic","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta330221d127d4f55/6988c05bbc6cfc13c73e0acc/barack-obama-nationals-first-throw.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta330221d127d4f55/6988c05bbc6cfc13c73e0acc/barack-obama-nationals-first-throw.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama throws out the","caption":"US President Barack Obama throws out the","creditText":"SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4716250/donald-trump-washington-nationals-mlb-opening-day/","name":"President Trump Won't Throw the First Pitch for the Washington Nationals, After All"}}]}] ```