Baller-in-Chief

(From The Tuskegee News Online)

Freelance photographer Wendell Rogers worked with Brian Summers of Atlanta to have a basketball made with President Barack Obama’s name on the ball, along with the United States seal on it.

Summer’s wife, Jocelyn F. Summers, is the chief of staff for First Lady Michelle Obama.

“We got the idea, because of the president’s love for basketball,” Rogers said. “We thought how great would it be for him to have his own personal basketball.”

Rogers met Summers during a special photo shoot for Senator Obama in Atlanta before he was elected president.

(From The Biz of Baseball)

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here’s an example.

Wilson, the Official Glove of Major League Baseball, made this one-of-a-kind glove for President Obama that he used to make his ceremonial first pitch at Tuesday’s 80th All-Star Game in St. Louis. The glove is black with “Obama #44” written in script and includes an American flag. Following its [planned] use, the glove was authenticated by Major League Baseball and sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

(From John Taylor for the the Washington Times Online)

Interesting story today to come out of the Washington Wizards PR department. …

Gilbert Arenas is well known for his signed jersey collection, perhaps less so for his car collection. Now, he’s got a piece of history to add to his museum-size home in Great Falls, Va.

According to a release the team sent out this afternoon, Arenas donated $25,000 to Wizards Care, the team’s charitable arm, to acquire the autographed chair that President Obama sat in when his Chicago Bulls came to the Verizon Center on Feb. 27, 2009. The president autographed the back of the chair — ‘Gold North AAA Seat Number 2’ — after the Wizards win.

The charity had intended to open online bidding on the chair on Wednesday when Arenas came in with his “tremendous bid,” according to Wizards Senior Vice President of Community Relations Judy Holland. “It was our full intention to auction off this historic item to raise funds for Wizards Care. … Everybody is a winner because of Gilbert’s generosity.”

(From Johanna Neuman for The Los Angeles Times Online)

Baseball legend Willie Mays is traveling with the president on Air Force One from Michigan (where POTUS was pitching education) to St. Louis, the site of the ballgame. Hard to imagine they won’t talk technique.

He is known in some circles as the First Fan, a devotee of the Chicago Bulls, a president so passionate about sports that he went on ESPN a few months ago to announce his bracket predictions for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

But tonight, President Obama becomes the nation’s baseball guy, throwing out the first pitch at the All-Star game in St. Louis, and doing a half inning of sports commentary in the Fox TV anchor booth.

Lots of people are already giving him advice.

Baseball legend Willie Mays is traveling with the president on Air Force One from Michigan (where POTUS was pitching education) to St. Louis, the site of the ballgame. Hard to imagine they won’t talk technique.

Then there’s Cardinals all-star Albert Pujols, who’s slated to catch the president’s debut first pitch. During pregame interviews Monday, the Cardinals’ first baseman offered some advice to Obama.

“Lob it up there. Don’t try to be a perfect throw,’” Pujols said. “The worst thing, if you throw any first pitch, you don’t want to bounce it. That’s the advice that I’m going to give. Make sure that you don’t bounce it.”

Before leaving Washington, Obama was asked during an Oval Office meeting whether he’d been practicing. “I think it’s fair to say I wanted to loosen up my arm,” he said during a photo-op with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, adding that he’d been reminiscing about that Chicago White Sox game in 2005 when he threw out the first pitch.

“I just wanted to keep it high,” Obama recalled. “Now, there was no clock on it, I don’t know how fast it went. If it exceeded 30 miles per hour, I’d be surprised. But it did clear the plate.”

Pujols won’t be the only Cardinals hero on the field for Obama’s debut at a major league game. The six living Cardinals Hall of Famers — Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Red Schoendienst, Bruce Sutter and Ozzie Smith — will also be on hand.

And Obama won’t be the only president to make an appearance. All four living presidents — George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter — appear in a video that honors community service volunteers in a ceremony MLB is calling “All-Stars Among Us.”

As for Obama, according to Major League Baseball, he’ll be wearing a black glove specifically designed for him by Wilson. The glove includes “Obama #44″ written in script and an American flag. After the first pitch, the glove will be authenticated by MLB and sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

And that broadcast booth appearance? Fox’s Joe Buck says the president will make his cameo appearance in the bottom of the second inning. Buck promised no wild pitches about politics.

Photo: President Obama holds up a Philadelphia Phillies jersey given to him by Jimmy Rollins at the White House May 15, 2009, in Washington. Obama welcomed Major League Baseball’s 2008 World Champions to the White House. Credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images

(From David Arnott for The Sporting News Online)

eBay is full of gems, particularly when it comes to sports-related items. David Arnott brings you the best ones.

Traditionally, the President of the United States has been a football fan (Nixon) or a baseball fan (Bush I and Bush II). Barack Obama, though is the first president to openly declare basketball his favorite sport. Last fall, there was a minor wave of people buying replicas of Obama’s high school jersey. Now that he’s taken the next step in his career, perhaps it’s appropriate you can now get a different Obama jersey: Team USA.

There’s a long tradition of jerseys that have a joke name on the back or otherwise make fun of the concept of big time sports. There are also plenty of jerseys based on fictional characters. But there aren’t too many instances of fans projecting popular celebrities onto sports teams.

Sure, it’s a partisan gesture that qualifies as hostile in some quarters, but you can also pass it off as a statement of hierarchy. That the most powerful person on earth regularly plays the modern American game of the people is a flattening force that both brings him to us and us to him and the sport to a place we haven’t yet defined.