Sports

Petition: Make Opening Day a National Holiday

Should the start of our national pastime be a national holiday?

Should opening day be a national holiday?

A petition was submitted to the White House last month in support of just that, urging President Obama's administration to declare Major League Baseball's opening day a national holiday.

"MLB Opening Day is more than just the beginning of the season. It’s a symbol of rebirth. The coming of spring. The return of America's national pastime. It’s a state of mind where anything is possible," the petition reads. "It’s an American tradition, and it deserves to be recognized as an American holiday."

Now, people petition the White House all the time, but this petition garnered more than 100,000 signatures.

And because of that, the White House responded.

Josh Earnest, a principal deputy press secretary at the White House and a self-identified lifelong Kansas City Royals fan, responded to the petition on behalf of the White House: 

"For more than a century, American presidents have celebrated baseball's Opening Day -- from President William Taft's 1910 first pitch from the stands, to President Obama toeing the rubber at Nationals Park in 2010," Earnest wrote.

But, the bad news: "While we are sympathetic to your pitch to make Opening Day a national holiday, it's a little outside our strike zone: creating permanent federal holidays is traditionally the purview of Congress. So, it's up to the men and women on Capitol Hill to decide whether to swing at this pitch."

Earnest noted that the 2013 World Series champs, the Boston Red Sox, will be hosted at the White House Tuesday in honor of Opening Day.

Would you support making opening day a national holiday?


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