Color vintage 13 x 10.5 photo of President Johnson throwing out the first pitch at the Washington Senators season opener on April 12,1965. Affixed to its original 16 x 14 mount, and signed and inscribed in black ink on the mount, “To Cecil Stoughton, with appreciation, Lyndon B. Johnson.” Accompanied by the official Reach American League ball that Johnson is throwing in the photo, signed on a side panel in red felt tip by Johnson, and also signed on the side panels by Hubert H. Humphrey, John McCormack, Mike Mansfield, Joe Cronin, and George Selkirk, who are all visible in the image. Photo is archivally triple cloth matted and framed to an overall size of 26.75 x 24.25, with a small shelf built into the bottom edge of the frame to display the ball. In fine condition, with the slightly faded photo lightly lifting off the mount at edges; the ball has some expected scattered light surface marks and soiling.
Presidents throwing out the first pitch is as American as, well…baseball! This pairing reaffirms that glorious marriage between the presidency and our national pastime. Although a Texan through and through, LBJ followed the Washington Senators—an allegiance to which the president once quipped: “We cheer for the Senators, we pray for the Senators, and we hope that the Supreme Court does not declare that unconstitutional.” Stoughton, the recipient of this image, was the first official White House photographer and the chief photographer during the Kennedy Administration, and was the only photographer on Air Force One on November 22, 1963 to document LBJ’s swearing-in as president. Stoughton continued as White House photographer under the Johnson Administration until 1965. Unique in its presentation and in the accompanying sphere—the very object seen being tossed by Johnson with the executive order to “Play Ball!” Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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