White House Lawn Strictly Bush League

Take me out to the . . . South Lawn?

Yes, indeed.

Baseball, kiddie-style, is coming to the White House. And George W. Bush, the first Little League “graduate” to attain the Oval Office, will preside as commissioner in chief.

With some 60 major league baseball Hall of Fame legends arrayed behind him in the elegant East Room, the president announced Friday that he and First Lady Laura Bush will regularly host coed T-ball games during the next four years, starting in a few weeks.

“In a small way, maybe we can help to preserve the best of baseball right here,” the president said.

A onetime co-owner and managing partner of the Texas Rangers, Bush said he got the idea shortly after moving into the White House.

“I pointed out to a great baseball fan, the first lady, that we’ve got a pretty good-sized backyard here and maybe, with the help of some groundskeepers, we could play ball on the South Lawn. She agreed--just so long as I wasn’t one of the players.”

The president also won’t be able to throw out the traditional ceremonial first pitch.

In T-ball, which involves kids about 5 to 8 years old, no pitching is required. Instead, a batter initiates the action by striking at a ball teed up on a waist-high plastic stand.

And don’t look for those manicured baseball diamonds with neatly chalked foul lines and smooth-as-glass infields.

Teams to Come From D.C. Area

“We’re not going to build a diamond. We’re going to drop bases . . . down on the South Lawn,” said Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, who plays in a hardball league when not fielding fastballs from reporters.

The games will occur “on a periodic basis, maybe something about monthly,” likely on Sunday afternoons with teams from the greater Washington metropolitan area, including many from the city’s core, Fleischer said.

And when the T-ballers arrive at the White House, Bush intends to get his staff involved as well.

“I think you can anticipate there’s going to be a healthy amount of participation from the White House, from Cabinet secretaries,” Fleischer said. “I mean, there’s just a whole lot of fun to be had with this, in a real welcoming way. We’ll have to decide who gets to sing the national anthem.”

But, this being Washington, the president’s announcement immediately touched off a fresh round of political analysis--inspired in part by the disclosure that the games will be organized jointly by Little League and two offices within the White House: the Office of Communications and the controversial Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, which is to administer a new program to help religious organizations compete for government funds in delivering social services.

“It’s obviously a [public relations] stunt,” said Larry E. Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. “Bush used to say that he will restore honor and integrity to the White House. Now he should amend that and say he’s restoring honor, integrity--and the 1950s to the White House.”

But analysts saw no real downside to Bush’s latest domestic initiative.

“Oh, there’ll be some who say it’s frivolous. But what’s wrong with that? It’s really just an extension of the Easter egg roll,” said Washington-based political analyst Charlie Cook, referring to the event at which area children and their parents descend on the White House lawn to hunt for Easter eggs. “There’s something about baseball that’s just different. It has a special place.”

“Of all the things to complain about, this is pretty far down the list,” Sabato conceded. “It’s harmless. It doesn’t hurt anybody.”

“Unless they end up with all kinds of injuries,” added Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Former Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey is credited with the T-ball concept. Back in the mid-1940s, he came up with the device to help slumping hitters “groove their swings,” according to a Little League spokesman.

T-ball began showing up on playgrounds about 30 years ago. Today, as many as 3 million boys and girls play the game, either in leagues or in more informal settings.

Bush’s T-ball initiative delighted Little League baseball.

“I think it’s a great boost for us and a boost for baseball in general,” said Lance Van Auken, a Little League spokesman.

Bush played in the Midland, Texas, Central Little League for three years in the 1950s. His parents served as volunteers.

Asked Friday about his batting average, the president snapped with a smile: “Not good enough!”

Bush a Sports Buff of Sorts

The president also plans to attend some college and minor league games, Fleischer said. On Friday night, Bush is scheduled to throw out the first ball at the Milwaukee Brewers-Cincinnati Reds game in Milwaukee, at the Brewers’ home opener in brand-new Miller Park.

Most nights, Bush tries to watch at least a little bit of ESPN, the all-sports cable TV network; during the baseball season, he enjoys poring over the box scores in the morning papers.

When asked last summer by Oprah Winfrey for his fondest childhood memory, then-Texas Gov. Bush replied without hesitation: “Little League baseball in Midland.” And during the postelection recount controversy in Florida, Bush often passed the time by reading Richard Ben Cramer’s “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life.”

“You can tell it’s a passion. He understands it’s truly America’s sport,” said Dan Bartlett, deputy counselor to the president. “It’s a genuine extension of his personality. It’s a unique way of connecting with the American people.”

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Times staff writers Jennifer Dorroh and James Gerstenzang contributed to this story.