What are the best ceremonial first pitches in MLB history?

Ichiro clocked in at 84.5 mph back then, too, which was impressive enough on its own for a 48-year-old who was no longer active and also wasn’t a pitcher. But that he’s held that velocity over the last three years now, despite being far enough from his playing career that he could be elected to Cooperstown. Ichiro remains a delight.

Sister Mary Jo (2018)

Sister Mary Sobieck — known more popularly now as Sister Mary Jo — didn’t just throw a strike when she got the chance to toss out the first pitch at a Chicago White Sox game in 2018. No, she decided to show off a little before the pitch, bouncing the ball off of her arm and catching it before letting it rip.

It turns out she took something off of the pitch, too, as the video explains that she can actually throw 76 mph. Sister Mary Jo was a three-sport athlete in high school and her first two years of college, and, like Ichiro, wasn’t showing signs of rust despite being 50 herself at the time of the pitch.

Not a lot of first pitch throwers end up with a bobblehead, baseball card, and ESPY nomination, you know. But Sister Mary Jo got all three.

Flips, flips, flips (2011-2024)

There’s an entire genre of first pitch, from the last 15 years or so, where someone who can do some killer flips and contortions does just that before their pitch. Sometimes well in front of the mound, sometimes somehow on the mound, and regardless of the location all of them are a great watch.

Nastia Liukin, who won a United States gymnastics record-tying five gold medals at the 2008 Olympic games, popped up in 2017 before a Los Angeles Angels game to throw out a first pitch with a twist.

Legendary Olympic gymnast and champion Simone Biles has thrown multiple first pitches, and sometimes they’re pretty standard affairs. Before Game 2 of the 2019 World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, though, Biles decided to show off those skills that have won her 11 Olympic medals by doing a twisting flip before settling in to toss the pitch.

Then, in 2024, another Olympic gold medalist, Hezly Rivera, flipped toward the plate as part of the lead-up to the actual pitch, reminiscent of Liukin’s move from over a decade before.

To future Olympic gymnast champions, your goal is clear: make the flip part of the actual throwing motion of your ceremonial first pitch, and become immortal. Well, immortal again, you’re already an Olympic champion in this scenario.

It’s not just Olympians who can jazz up their first pitch by flying through the air. Fitness influencer Demi Bagby flipped and made a split part of her pitch for the San Diego Padres, and, thankfully, preserved the moment on her own YouTube page.

And who can forget Gabryel Nogueira da Silva, the Cirque du Soleil performer that the Padres invited to throw out the first pitch back in 2011?

This is the closest we’ve gotten to the dream of the throwing motion being part of the acrobatics instead of “just” what happens after them. The dream can be reality. Even if it is a balk. Hey, these are ceremonial first pitches, the rules can be ignored.

Besides that flips are wonderful, it’s also pretty clear from all of this that the Padres love mixing it up with their first pitches. Though, that time with the velociraptor doesn’t qualify here since it didn’t reach the plate with its throw. Then again, the raptor did throw the pitch with its mouth, so, let’s give it a round of applause again, anyway.

The video is labeled “baby T-Rex,” but the announcers say “raptor,” which you already know since you just watched it.

Via Catapult (2016)

For a S.T.E.A.M. day in Miami in 2016 — that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics — students built a catapult, and used it to throw out the first pitch for the Marlins. It’s probably a good thing that the recipient of the first pitch, Billy the Marlin, had a mascot’s getup to protect himself: that thing was flying.

Katie Ledecky shows off (2016)

What’s great about this Katie Ledecky first pitch before a Washington Nationals game — besides that she threw a strike, but lots of people do that — is that she brought then-Nationals star Bryce Harper out there with her, and took off her many Olympic medals, one at a time, for him to hold while she did her thing.

That’s just showing off, but hey, she earned it. And it’s not like they were going to build her a pool to swim a ball to the end of before throwing it, so making everyone wait to see just how amazing your Olympic performance is had to suffice.

Major League Baseball isn’t the only place where ceremonial first pitches are an institution. In Nippon Professional Baseball, first pitches are an involved affair that often include mascots, celebrities, a player swinging (and missing) at the pitch, and even the occasional wrestling match.

Frankly, more ceremonial first pitches should end with a surfboard stretch. You know you want to see John Cena try to tap out the Phillie Phanatic, if only to hear what kind of noises the Phanatic would make with the STF applied.

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