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President Donald Trump declines to throw Nationals first pitch, breaking century-old tradition

What else could he be up to?

President Trump Signs Energy Independence Executive Order
President Trump Signs Energy Independence Executive Order
Photo by Ron Sach-Pool/Getty Images

Donald Trump is breaking another tradition.

Not only has he gotten Jim Harbaugh to weigh in on his budget by proposing some big changes, he now has said he will not throw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals Opening Day.

William Taft started the tradition in 1910 — for those of you who struggle with math, that was more than 100 years ago. Of course, the tradition took a break from 1972 to 2005 when Washington had no major league team.

According to the Washington Post, the White House told the Nationals the president has a scheduling conflict on Opening Day, April 3, Nationals vs. Marlins.

What exactly is this scheduling conflict? We don’t know yet. I have some guesses.

It IS the NCAA Final Four. Perhaps Trump wants to focus on one sporting event at a time.

He might be golfing. That’s another sport.

He might be conducting some sort of negotiation over golf or watching TV at Mar-a-Lago.

Pitching requires the hands. Everyone can see your hands when you pitch. Maybe Trump doesn’t want to draw attention to his hands.

Regardless, it’s a shame he’s breaking with tradition. The good news is there will still be some presidents there on Opening Day:

MLB: San Francisco Giants at Washington Nationals
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
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