Jed Bartlet is my president!

[rivka]

This was the scene tonight at Camden Yards.



(I know, I know, it's blurry. All the pictures turned out blurry, and I'm profoundly sorry. What it says is: "The Orioles Welcome Tonight's First Pitch Participant - President Josiah Bartlet.")

Last month, friends of ours from the Dean for America campaign invited us to go to tonight's Orioles game with them. So when curiousangel found out that Martin Sheen would be throwing out the first pitch, filmed by the crew of the West Wing, we were absolutely ecstatic.

When there was a thunderstorm this afternoon just before our friends picked us up, we were a little less ecstatic. But we gamely headed out to the park, had a beer, and waited around in the concourse or the covered portion of the lower deck for about an hour and a half. The game was supposed to start at 7:30, and at around 8 the rain slacked off and the players started coming onto the field to warm up.

As the rain dwindled to nothing, the grounds crew started rolling back the tarp which was keeping the infield more or less dry. The Orioles announcer said that everyone who wanted to be in the West Wing scene should move into the sections just behind home plate, so they would be filled up. (Ordinarily that wouldn't have been a problem, but the weather was so awful that a lot of people stayed home.) We worked our way as close as we could to the mound. For a few shining moments we were right down by the field, but an usher told us we couldn't stand in the aisle. Eventually we found seats with a great view, a few rows higher up.

The crew spent a bunch of time milling around on the field:



Then the director, whose name I didn't recognize, came out and told us what was going to happen. "Martin Sheen - President Jed Bartlet - (crowd cheers) is going to come out and throw the first pitch. (crowd cheers louder) We're going to do it two or three times, and we'd like the cheering to be just as loud each time." (crowd cheers very loudly indeed.)

In fact, they filmed it four times. Twice they seemed to be filming long shots, and twice they were right in front of him. Each time it went like this:

The director and the Orioles mascot whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Then the announcer's voice came over the PA: "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States." Everybody in the lower sections screamed. Martin Sheen came striding out of the tunnel in casual clothes, with a baseball glove on his left hand. He walked out to the mound, waving at the crowd on all sides. Then he wound up - sort of - and threw the ball to Javy Lopez, the Orioles' catcher.





The first pitch was high and outside. The second one was also high. The third pitch bounced in the dirt, but Javy managed to block it. But the fourth take was a wild pitch - the ball went over Javy's head - he jumped for it - and hit the backstop.

It was amusing to see Martin Sheen standing right next to Javy Lopez. Whenever you see Sheen with other actors on the West Wing - Alison Janney, say - it's clear that he's a pretty short man. But to see him next to a huge, muscular Major League ballplayer - he was positively dwarfed.





People brought signs. I wished we'd thought of that. "Bartlet and the O's: A Winning Team" was right behind home plate, and then there was this one:



On all four takes, I cheered myself hoarse. It felt really good to pretend, just for those few minutes, that my president was an intelligent, trustworthy, courageous, slightly goofy liberal. A man I could be proud of.

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[rivka.livejournal.com]

I forgot to say earlier: of course he can come! The more the merrier.