QUICK TAKES - May 9, 2009

Hollywood star Tom Hanks was in a league of his own Friday when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Japanese professional baseball game.

Hanks, who was in Tokyo with director Ron Howard to promote “Angels & Demons,” took a few warmup pitches in the bullpen before heading out to the mound to throw out the first pitch at a game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo Dome.

With Howard behind the plate and Yomiuri infielder Hayato Sakamoto in the batter’s box, Hanks threw a pitch that bounced several feet in front of home plate before skidding past a diving Howard.

“Tons of practice and I bounced it in the dirt. I’m humiliated,” said Hanks, who played a baseball manager in “A League of Their Own.” “I went from the rush of being in the sacred spot to the humiliation of being mortal.”