Obama did not get the pitch to the plate. He couldn’t have and they probably told Pujols he didn’t do it in the first place so move up a little bit. You see it now? Okay, you see now why I’m saying the commander-in-chief here has a girlie toss? So it is what it is. But they knew this was all going to happen. So you got Pujols catching, god in St. Louis at the moment, Stan Musial, all-time god in St. Louis, Chicago White Sox jacket, they tried to limit the boos, and then they tried to set up circumstances where they could explain the boos. These handlers are very good. Now, here’s some audio sound bites. This is Joe Buck, Fox Sports, introducing President Obama. Here’s the introduction. We got 15 seconds. There’s a smattering of boos. People who were there have told me it was about half and half. But they’re going to say, ‘Well, of course he’s going to get booed, he came out wearing a White Sox jacket in St. Louis.’ But then the cheers overcame when he goes up to Stan Musial and they put Pujols out there to catch the first pitch, you know, the cheers and — anyway, here it is.
BUCK: Please welcome the president of the United States of America.
RUSH: You hear ’em? You hear ’em? All right. Heard the boos in there, right? All right, now, I just explained to you what happened. He didn’t — if you watched the All-Star Game on Fox last night, you did not see the pathetic arc of the pitch, you did not see the pitch caught by Albert Pujols, he didn’t see where Pujols was squatting practically in front of the plate, you did not see — all you saw was what they want us to believe is a magnificent athletic form of Obama in jeans, by the way, tossing out the first pitch. And we have a montage here of unidentified ESPN people, CNN people, ABC people. Hell, we got Politico, everybody is on this thing. State-Run Media, state-run sports media cannot even be honest about the Obama pitch.
BUCK: Please welcome the president of the United States of America.
RUSH: You hear ’em? You hear ’em? All right. Heard the boos in there, right? All right, now, I just explained to you what happened. If you watched the All-Star Game on Fox last night, you did not see the pathetic arc of the pitch, you did not see the pitch caught by Albert Pujols, you didn’t see where Pujols was squatting practically in front of the plate. All you saw was what they want us to believe is a magnificent athletic form of Obama in jeans, by the way, tossing out the first pitch. And we have a montage here of unidentified ESPN people, CNN people, ABC people. Hell, we got Politico, everybody is on this thing. State-Run Media, State-Run Sports Media cannot even be honest about the Obama pitch.
ESPN NEWS ANCHOR: (music) Horrible camera work but it didn’t bounce.
RANDI KAYE: (music) He pulled it off, putting the ball across the plate.
MIKE GALANOS: He made it to the glove.
KIRAN CHETRY: The president still performed a lot better than other big names.
MIKE ALLEN: It was a little low but he did fine.
REGIS PHILBIN: He did ok. He warmed up under the stands and then reached the catcher on a fly.
RUSH: Did not.
KELLY RIPA: I’m very proud of him. He’s a lefty too.
ANN CURRY: The president said he didn’t want to bounce it, and he didn’t.
HARRY SMITH: It depends on the angle. It’s all about the perspective from which you see that pitch. If you see it from back there at Pujols’ angle, it doesn’t look so bad.
RUSS MITCHELL: Made it all the way over the plate.
RUSH: It’s a matter of debate, we’re going to have to get the video in slo-mo but I’m telling you the reason why it matters if it gets over the plate, I have thrown out many ceremonial first pitches and in my career I’ve also arranged for many ceremonial first pitches when I worked for the Kansas City Royals. In fact, one of my most infamous moments was the very first first-ball ceremony I arranged and orchestrated and emceed from the field. Olathe Kansas, Saturday night, 40,000 people at Royals Stadium, microphone out at the pitchers mound. They got 90 people from the Olathe committee who sold all the tickets, largest group of the year lined up in the infield third base to first base. I do the rigmarole, welcome, all this stuff, a great job, and I go to the guy throwing the first pitch, hey, Tom, let her rip. I don’t have a ball. I had forgotten to get a ball. So I’m stranded out there, no ball for the guy to throw the first pitch with. I knew if I left that microphone to go to the dugout and get one there would not be a ball there, so what I did, I said in the microphone, 40,000 people, ‘Would somebody in the dugout please throw me a baseball?’
Here came every baseball, about 50 them. Empty bags were thrown out. The Olathe Night committee scattered all over the field chasing down the balls. I reached down, grabbed one, gave it to the guy, threw the first pitch. Best ceremonial first pitch in Major League Baseball history, and most entertaining, and it was mine. I know about these things, and I’ve thrown my share of ceremonial first pitches, and I know that the objective is to get the ball without bouncing it, that’s why all these Drive-By and State-Run people are making the point that he got the pitch to the plate. But when you look at it from the Major League Baseball dot com center field angle, you’ll see that Albert Pujols is crouching so low you can barely see the plate because he’s right on top of it. It could not have gotten to the plate because Pujols had to reach in front of the plate to catch it, and I do think he short-hopped it. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it. I’ve seen short-hops. I’ve caught short-hops.
I played baseball all the way up until I was a junior in high school and then I got cut. (interruption) Well, I don’t know why I got cut. Nobody else knew why I got cut, either, but I went home and I complained to my dad because my dad knew the coach and I said, ‘This doesn’t make sense, Brink –‘ the coach’s name was Brink –‘cut me.’ And my dad said, ‘Well, life lesson, son. You must not be good enough.’ That’s it. He got mad, but it happened and he wasn’t going to challenge Brink. Brink was the coach. If that happened today the school would be sued, we’d be digging up dirt on Brinkhoff to find out whatever stuff he had to get him to change his mind and so forth. So, anyway, folks, you compare the Bamster’s first pitch with George W. Bush first pitch at Yankee Stadium wearing body armor, by the way, after 9/11, and it was a fast ball strike with a legitimate catcher, not a first baseman acting as catcher cause he’s the most popular guy in town.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We’re back. It’s great to have you with us, Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network. Look, I want to back off just a hair here on my criticism of President Obama. Not everybody can be an athlete. At least he’s an athletic supporter — and any time you have a president who is an athletic supporter, that’s better than not. Now, let’s go back in time. This is October 30th, 2001. Bob Sheppard, PA announcer, Yankee Stadium, New York.
BOB SHEPPARD: Please welcome the President of the United States. (organ music)
CROWD: (applause)
MICHAEL KAY: The president walking out to the mound to thunderous applause — wearing the FDNY blue jacket — waving to the crowd, standing on the mound. Winds, kicks, and delivers to Todd Greene.
CROWD: (wild applause)
KAY: And a perfect strike as he gets a thunderous ovation here at Yankee Stadium. What a moment at the stadium!
CROWD: (wild applause)
RUSH: We edited the length of the applause to bring the bite in under 45 seconds, but that was President Bush and the first pitch on October 30th, 2001, at Yankee Stadium.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay, got an eyewitness report. My cousin Jim and his son J.P. were in Busch Stadium last night for the All-Star Game. The pitch bounced. They saw it bounce. Jim reports to me — and he’s a credible witness. He’s a banker. He reports to me — and he counts — the boos and the cheers were 50-50. So there. I mean, if you trust me, you gotta trust anybody in my family. Don’t doubt me.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This first up Danielle in Lapeer, Michigan. Is that right, Lapeer?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Right. Well, welcome to the program.
CALLER: Helloooo.
RUSH: Yeah, hi.
CALLER: Well, I’m calling because I’m upset about that first pitch comment.
RUSH: What about it?
CALLER: Well, I’m a girl, and I don’t throw like that.
RUSH: Well, that’s not an insult. Girls don’t throw overhanded like Obama did.
CALLER: Yes, I do.
RUSH: Okay, some do but the majority don’t. Everybody —
CALLER: They don’t pitch overhanded but we throw overhanded.
RUSH: Yeah, vases and stuff like that up against the wall, but, uh… (laughing)
CALLER: You! (laughing) Oh, come on.
RUSH: (laughing)
CALLER: He throws like a girl that doesn’t know how to throw.
RUSH: There are some girls that throw overhanded and don’t look girlish but there’s a term for it. I didn’t make up the term. Now, women, these slow pitch —
CALLER: We gotta end that term.
RUSH: You may not look like a girl when you throw, but I’m telling you most girls do, and Obama looked like one. I’m not insulting girls.
CALLER: My nine-year-old daughter throws better than that. (laughing)
RUSH: Well, your nine-year-old daughter is a girl. So you’re making my point about Obama, see?
CALLER: I said she throws better than that.
RUSH: I know. You’re making my point even better.
CALLER: He doesn’t throw like a girl. He throws like a girl that doesn’t know how to throw.
RUSH: All right, fine. I’ll compromise.
CALLER: Thank you.
RUSH: I’ll compromise. I’ll accept that.
CALLER: Okay. That’s all I wanted.
RUSH: Thank you, Danielle, very much. Zack in Atlanta. Zack, welcome to the EIB Network, sir. Great to have you here.
CALLER: Mr. Limbaugh, best wishes from the South.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: Am I the only one who noticed that the camera feed used during the broadcast did not show the location of the pitch?
RUSH: No. I mentioned that early on in my analysis. Fox did this on purpose. Here’s what I think actually happened. Obama knows you can’t throw a baseball. He’s a basketball guy, and he’s not very good at golf. I think these people… You know, handlers of presidents are very, very careful about things and I’m sure they got an agreement to keep it close up in case he did bomb the pitch, in case it wasn’t any good. So, yeah, the Fox camera missed it. That’s why I say you have to see the actual pitch from a center field camera. You have to go to MLB.com. It looked like a slow pitch softball thrown overhanded.
CALLER: I’ve never in all the first pitches by celebrities that I’ve seen, I’ve never seen that be the case.
RUSH: That’s true. That’s absolutely true. You never, ever have a first pitch where they don’t show the catcher catching the ball.
CALLER: Yeah, for the amount of cameras that they have.
RUSH: That’s another illustration of how last night was not an accident.
CALLER: And the pitch itself came from the left. It was weak and fell short, and that’s all I have to comment. (laughs) Have a great day, sir.
RUSH: Thank you very much, Zack.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: St. Paul, Minnesota, Dean, you’re next and you’re up on the EIB Network, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Dittos, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I was sort of noticing that Obama seemed out of place out there last night. And I wondered if he was going to throw the ball out from the mound or from president’s box that they usually do. President Bush threw it out from the mound kind of as a show of strength after 9/11. I found a photo, an AP photo via Gateway Pundit blog.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: The photo shows Obama winding up and holding the ball, and he’s sort of holding it like a golf ball. You know, anyone who’s ever picked up a baseball, played ball, you ordinarily know how to configure your fingers on the seams. And Obama’s got his fingers between the seams, like, you know, what is this thing and how do I throw it? So I noticed —
RUSH: — was he holding it with two fingers or four?
CALLER: He had a three-fingered grip on it.
RUSH: Three-finger grip?
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: It’s a girl toss. There’s no guy, not even knuckleballers use three fingers. That’s a girlie toss. If it’s three fingers on a baseball he doesn’t know what he’s doing, there’s no question.