Yeah, but George Bush was able to throw a baseball across the plate.You're thinking, ironically enough, of the son of the President who misplaced the team said son owned for awhile.
And there was more than one reason neither President Bush was any Ronald Reagan---Reagan, who launched his professional life nobly enough (as a baseball broadcaster, for WHO---now, there's a set of radio call letters!---in which job he created a play-by-play broadcast based on telegraph wire game updates, about which more anon), turned up in the Wrigley Field booth late season 1988, where he was welcomed by Harry Caray and quipped, "You know, Harry, I'm going to be out of a job in a few months, so I thought I might audition."
Caray then handed Reagan the mike full-time. And Reagan called an inning and a half very credibly.
Reagan's most remembered hour as a baseball broadcaster, of course, was the day he was recreating a Cub game and, when the telegraph malfunctioned, was forced to depict Billy Jurgens as continously fouling off pitches, until the wire was repaired and the news came and Reagan sheepishly announced whoops, Jurgens fouled out on the first pitch! HE dined out on that one for years.
Reagan’s most remembered hour as a baseball broadcaster, of course, was the day he was recreating a Cub.
Yes, Reagan is a legend in Des Moines, Iowa due largely to his brief stint at WHO (which broadcasts through one of the nations most powerful transmittors).
I grew up in Des Moines, as did my father. My Grandfather owned a radio repair shop in Des Moines and knew Dutch Reagan since both of them ate at the same diner for lunch. One day Reagan announced to my grandad that he was covering a Cubs game in California (don’t ask me which team they played back then). He later received a postcard from Reagan informing Grandpa that he was offered a screen test. The rest you know.
I guess all that phony broadcasting at WHO made him a pretty good actor!