In the spirit of Election Day, a bipartisan collection of quotes about baseball, with a quote from every president since Taft, with the exception of Wilson, Harding and Lyndon Johnson, who didn’t have good baseball quotes. A big ups to the Baseball Almanac page on Presidents and baseball for being the source of most of these quotes:

“Saturday’s game was a fine one, but several times when a hit meant a run, the batter was ordered to bunt. I believe they should hit it out. I love the game when there is plenty of slugging.” – President William Howard Taft

“I do not suppose all the youth of America would care to be big league ballplayers, but I know they all would profit if the character of Walter Johnson was emulated by them.” – President Calvin Coolidge

“Next to religion, baseball has furnished a greater impact on American life than any other institution.” – President Herbert Hoover (who also was once notably serenaded with chants of “We Want Beer!” by Prohibition-era Philadelphia fans)

“I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going.” – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (in the Green Light Letter)

“May the sun never set on American baseball.” – President Harry S. Truman

“When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he’d like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish.” -President Dwight D. Eisenhower (who may have played in the minors under an assumed name.)

“They said that I was too young to be president and you were too old to be playing baseball. We fooled them!” – President John F. Kennedy (to Stan Musial before the 1962 All-Star Game)

“I never leave a game before the last pitch, because in baseball, as in life and especially politics, you never know what will happen.” – President Richard Nixon

“I had a life-long ambition to be a professional baseball player, but nobody would sign me.” – President Gerald Ford (who did have a chance to become a professional football player, but who didn’t sign)

“For at least five generations, our family members have been avid baseball fans. We were particularly proud of Ty Cobb, a fellow Georgian, and simply let the negative aspects of his character fade into relative unimportance when compared to his achievements on the diamond. It was with mixed emotions that we observed Pete Rose getting his 4,192nd hit on Sept. 11, 1985, breaking one of Cobb’s seemingly invulnerable records. But we recognized Rose’s extraordinary spirit and determination. Few players ever made greater use of their natural talents or brought more enthusiasm to the game.” – President Jimmy Carter, in a 1995 editorial calling for Pete Rose’s reinstatement

“There were several other stations broadcasting that game and I knew I’d lose my audience if I told them we’d lost our telegraph connections so I took a chance. I had (Billy) Jurges hit another foul. Then I had him foul one that only missed being a home run by a foot. I had him foul one back in the stands and took up some time describing the two lads that got in a fight over the ball. I kept on having him foul balls until I was setting a record for a ballplayer hitting successive foul balls and I was getting more than a little scared. Just then my operator started typing. When he passed me the paper I started to giggle – it said: ‘Jurges popped out on the first ball pitched.’” -President Ronald Reagan, reminiscing about his time as a announcer for the Chicago Cubs (working from telegraph reports to recreate the game)

“Once, after an especially strong day at bat in a game at Raleigh, North Carolina, I was 3 for 5 with a double and triple, and a scout approached me as I left the field. That the first and last nibble I ever got from the pros.”- President George H.W. Bush (who met Babe Ruth when he visited Yale at the time Bush was the baseball team’s captain)

“Clearly they are not capable of settling this strike without an umpire.” – President Bill Clinton (on the strike of 1994)

“The most exciting way for a World Series game to end would be with a great throw from the outfield to nail a runner at home. The play would require three players (the outfielder, an infielder and the catcher) to make a good play.” – President George W. Bush (former owner of the Texas Rangers)

“Now, it’s been nine years since your last title, which must have felt like an eternity for Yankees fans, I think other teams would be just fine with a spell like that.The Cubs, for example.” -President Barack Obama, noted White Sox fan, to the New York Yankees during their visit to the White House after the 2009 season