This calendar week marked the hundredth day of remembrance of President Richard Nixon ’s giving birth ( he died in 1994 ) . One of Nixon ’s passions was baseball game . He attended 11 games while serve in billet , and after his presidential days were over , Nixon remained close to the game . In 1985 , he mediated a difference of opinion between Major League Baseball and the arbitrator .
But Nixon ’s biggest baseball moment came on June 22 , 1972 , when a newsman covering the upcoming national election asked the President to name his all - metre favorite ballplayer . Nixon immediately start to rattle off the names of baseball game ’s well hitter , from Gehrig to Williams to Musial . His difficultness in choosing just the emollient of the crop lead the reporter to make a unique request : the first everpresidential All - Star squad .
From there , Nixon sit down with his Word - in - jurisprudence David Eisenhower , who had briefly process for the Washington Senators , at Camp David , where they compose the final rosters . Once complete , the listappearedin national newspaper on June 30 with the chairman ’s byline attach to it . Nixon had decided to select pre- and post - war teams for each conference . But he did include one caution at the end of his op - ed : " If some smart reporter asks me to name an all - ace football game team the answer will be a flat - NO ! " he spell .
While some of his selections and logical thinking are suspect — for case , he include shortstop Arky Vaughan because the two had perish to Fullerton High School together — baseball game fans seemed pleased with Nixon ’s designation . Nixon send off a letter to Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx ’s daughter , explaining why he had chosen her Father-God as baseball ’s best first baseman . Read the letterhere .
On the 20th day of remembrance of his original list , Nixonoffered an update version . This time , though , he cover up three different geological era : 1925 - 1959 , 1960 - 1991 , and a special third category for combat-ready participant . This time around , some of Nixon ’s handpicked selections like Bob Feller , Brooks Robinson , and Johnny Bench were on deal for the big reveal . Nixon regaled the crowd at the tiffin with fib of seeing Joe DiMaggio homer in a 1936 secret plan in Washington .
The second time around Nixon made headlines when he take another banished man as National League DH for the common era team . Pete Rose got a o.k. endorsement .
