Report: Donald Trump declines Opening Day invite from Nationals

President Donald Trump has reportedly declined an invitation from the Washington Nationals to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day.

In 1910, William Howard Taft became the first sitting President of the United States to throw out a ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day in Washington, D.C. when the Washington Senators hosted the Philadelphia Athletics at National Park.

One hundred years later, Barack Obama marked the anniversary of Taft’s first pitch by tossing out one of his own prior to the Washington Nationals Opening Day game against the Philadelphia Phillies. In the century in between, every sitting United States President has thrown out a first pitch on Opening Day, or prior to the All-Star Game or World Series. However, Donald Trump won’t join that list this year.

Despite earlier reports that he was in talks to do so, according to Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post, citing a “scheduling issue,” the White House declined an offer from the Nationals to take the mound before Monday’s Opening Day matchup with the Miami Marlins.

The longstanding Washington tradition ended in 1972 when the second incarnation of the Senators left town to become the Texas Rangers. Nevertheless, Richard Nixon opened the 1973 season with a first pitch in Cincinnati. Gerald Ford tossed out the first pitch of the 1976 season in Arlington Stadium.

Jimmy Carter never threw out an Opening Day first pitch, but he opened a 1979 World Series game. Ronald Reagan started up the Opening Day tradition again, this time in Baltimore, in 1984, and George H.W. Bush also tossed out the first pitch on Opening Day for the Orioles in 1989 with Bill Clinton following suit in 1993.

George W. Bush’s first ceremonial first pitch as President occurred on Opening Day in 2001 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, and Bush was the first President to throw out a first pitch for the Nationals on Opening Day 2005 following the franchise’s move from Montreal. Obama did not throw out the first pitch of a Nats game until Opening Day 2010, but he was on hand for the 2009 All-Star Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

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Though he won’t extend the presidential tradition this year, Trump has tossed out at least one first pitch in the past, prior to a regular season game at Fenway Park in 2006.