“Taft Not only Likes the Game, but Knows it”
President William Howard Taft, above shaking hands with Cubs pitcher Mordecai Brown, attended the September 16, 1909 game at Chicago’s West Side Grounds. Tickets for the game went quickly and scalpers who expected a windfall were foiled by Cubs’ management.
The Chicago Tribune said:
“Ticket scalpers who tried to dip their hands into the pockets of local baseball fans through the opportunity offered to see President Taft at Thursday’s Cub-Giant game were foiled in a novel way by the Cub officials. How thoroughly did not develop until (the morning after the game).”
The Cubs limited the number of tickets to three for each purchase, but “A flock of scalpers and their agents obtained a couple hundred seats in blocks of three,” but the paper said they were unable to sell most of them.
Taft attended a make-up game, necessitated by a June 9 postponement.
“(Cubs management) had no set of reserved and box seat tickets for (the make-up date). Instead, the regular set printed for the game of June 9, which was postponed, was revised for president’s day…when (scalpers) tried to hawk and dispose of them around the ‘L’ stations and elsewhere prospective buyers were seeing the date ‘June 9,’ became suspicious and would not buy. Consequently, practically all the seats the scalpers purchased were left in their hands.”
In addition to shutting down the scalpers, the paper said the Cubs went to great lengths to ensure that the game would be incident free:
“Few of those who thronged the park knew of the preparations made to insure safety not only of the nation’s chief but of every person present, nor how ‘carefully the seat reserved for President Taft was guarded from danger that might arise from the presence of any crank.
“On the day before the game the entire plant was inspected by the police and building departments. Wednesday night three watchmen spent the night in the park. From early morning two Pinkerton men remained beneath the section of the stand in which the president’s seat was located, and from noon until the president left the grounds there were twelve detectives and secret service men directly beneath that section of the stand.
“The actual number of guardians of the president was close to 500 aside from his own immediate bodyguard.”
The paper said the security force included 50 Secret Service agents, 60 Chicago police detectives and nearly 400 uniformed officers.
The overflow crowd 0f nearly 30,000 watched the Giants behind Christy Mathewson further dash the Cubs pennant hopes with a 2 to 1 victory–over Mordecai Brown–dropping the Cubs six and a half games behind the Pittsburg Pirates.
The visit by Taft–and his interest in baseball in general–was, important for the game according to The Chicago Daily News:
“The prestige which baseball gains by numbering among its admirers a President of the United States who has graced three major league diamonds during the current season is inestimable.”
Taft attended games at Washington’s American League Park and Forbes Field in Pittsburgh in addition to his Chicago trip. His presence sent a message to the public that:
“(I)t’s leading citizen, blessed with a clear mind and a great one, approves of its favorite pastime.”
The paper said that while at the game in Chicago, “Taft for an hour and 30 minutes…ate popcorn and drank lemonade as simply as a big boy enjoying a long-expected holiday.”
And, the paper said, his interest in the game was real:
“President Taft is not a baseball fan because it is the popular pastime, but because he is one and because he not only likes the game, but knows it. That was manifest by the closeness with which he followed each play, scarcely ever taking his eyes off the ball while it was in action. A leading constituent might be confiding an important party secret to the presidential left eat while another citizen whose name appears often in headlines might be offering congratulations on the outcome of the battle for revision downward to the right auricle, but while both ears were absorbing messages from friends both presidential eyes were steadily watching Christy Mathewson and the Giants revise downward the standing of the Cubs.”
Taft attended games at major league ballparks 10 more times during his presidency.
