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Tony Finau Throwing Opening Pitch

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Alex Miceli | Last updated Mar 25, 2025 3:11 PM ET

The ceremonial first pitch will be tossed in different parks throughout the country as major league baseball's Opening Day commences on Thursday.

What first was known as a presidential thing going back to when a rotund President William Howard Taft threw out the first pitch for the Washington Senators Opening Day at Griffith Stadium in 1910 has morphed into an event for not just presidents but athletes and celebrities.

This is why Tony Finau, the 2022 Houston Open champion and 2024 runner-up, will get his first-ever chance to toss out a first pitch on Friday when the Houston Astors host the New York Mets.

“I haven't held a baseball in years, so maybe I should practice over the next couple days,” Finau joked in his pre-tournament press conference. “My goal is to not throw it in the dirt. That's pretty much all my friends have told me: if you throw it in the dirt, you'll never hear the end of it, so I'm going high and hard."

Finau will toss from the pitcher’s mound, but when Taft tossed his first pitch, it was from the stands to a waiting Walter Johnson standing on the field.

“President Taft threw the first ball into the diamond and opened the season with a true presidential flourish,” The Washington Post reported on April 15. “He did it with his good, trusty right are, and the virgin sphere scudded across the diamond true as a die to the pitcher's box, where Walter Johnson, also the possessor of a good, trusty right arm, gathered it in and started winding up for one of his rifle shots across the plate.”

The Senators would win the opener 3 – 0 over the Philadelphia Athletics on Johnson's arm, who threw a complete game-one hitter with nine strikeouts.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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