T-ball at the White House, Taunting at Ruth's House

How Kevin Millar and the Oriole Bird spent their off-days

by Matthew Taylor

There are worse ways to spend a day off. Former Oriole Frank Robinson and current Oriole Kevin Millar took to the White House lawn on Wednesday to participate - Robinson as commissioner, Millar as a coach - in the president's T-ball game.

"Bush presided over a Tee Ball game on the South Lawn, then hosted a social dinner Wednesday in honor of Major League Baseball for about 240 players, members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, baseball officials and fans, administration officials and lawmakers.

The group, which included Baltimore Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar, eight-time MLB all-star pitcher John Smoltz and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, dined on crab salad, rib-eye steaks and a dessert called 'Peanuts and Cracker Jack.'

Afterward, in his third White House performance, country musician Kenny Chesney sang about summertime, drinking wine from Dixie cups and seeing the world from the seat of an 'old blue chair.'

'It doesn't get better than this," Bush said after the performance in the Rose Garden. 'Country music in the Rose Garden celebrating baseball.'"

In other "news," you know you're in New York when fans in the bleachers are taunting mascots prior to the celebrity softball game.

Rule No. 1: Don't taunt the Oriole Bird.

Rule No. 2: If you must ignore Rule 1, come up with something better than "Bore-iole."




[Image source: Associated Press. Click on photo for original.]