Herbert Hoover once said baseball was the greatest of all team sports.
Now Hoover, the nation's 31st president, has joined the Washington Nationals as the newest of the "racing presidents" at Nats home games.
Hoover joins the other racing presidents -- George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft -- and won his debut race on Sunday during the Nats' game against the Miami Marlins.
Fans got suspicious when Calvin Coolidge, who was introduced in July 2015, did not race at last week's home opener. According to the Washington Post, Coolidge was only a visiting racer, not a permanent addition to the squad.
According to the White House Historical Association, Hoover played for the Stanford baseball team as a freshman and later became the team's manager. He attended nine total games while president, including three World Series games, and threw out six first pitches.
A number of quotes about the game are attributed to Hoover including: "Next to religion, baseball has furnished a greater impact on American life than any other institution."