Thursday, July 29, 2010

Miss Iowa to throw first pitch Friday

Updated at 5:28 p.m.

Katherine Connors, aka Miss Iowa 2010, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before tomorrow night's game at Nationals Park.

The Nats haven't confirmed the appearance, but Connors announced the news on Twitter this afternoon, posting: "It's official - headed to Washington DC to throw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals game tomorrow night!!!"

Connors' appearance in the District will come three days after Nationals reliever Miguel Batista compared himself to her upon serving as the last-minute replacement for injured starter Stephen Strasburg. Many among the sellout crowd booed when Batista took the mound in the top of the first inning.

"Imagine, if you go there to see Miss Universe and you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos," Batista said.

The quote was widely circulated and made its way back to Connors, who then told the Des Moines Register: "I know I can throw a pitch or two! The question is, can Miguel Batista walk the runway in a swimsuit?"

Batista subsequently clarified that his quote wasn't meant to insult Miss Iowa and sent her flowers. The 39-year-old reliever will catch Connors' ceremonial throw tomorrow and hopes he makes a good impression on her.

"Hopefully by the end of the day, when she goes back to Iowa, she says something good about us," Batista said. "Hopefully something like, 'Hey, he was a cool guy. He looks like a low-budget Vin Diesel, but he's nice."

17 comments:

Jaders said...

I think Batista should dress up as Miss Universe!

Daniel said...

Swimsuit Batista!

Anonymous said...

put Batista in heels AND a swimsuit!

Big Oil said...

A very good sport she is. It's refreshing to hear people can share a laugh without being offended over a joke. Much respect. And maybe she'll motivate some of the Nats against Oswalt. Big night tomorrow.

Feel Wood said...

What they should do tomorrow night is run lots and lots of stuff on the big screen about Miss Iowa before the game, build up a nice buzz about the upcoming first pitch, and then go silent for five minutes. Then have Stephen Strasburg walk out and make the first pitch, unannounced. About an hour later, they put this up on the big screen:

Miss Iowa 2010 Katherine Connors was pulled from tonight's start just minutes before 1st pitch. This was a precautionary move due to Katherine having difficulty getting loose. Her status is day to day.

No refunds or exchanges. Store credit only.

SBrent said...

That's awesome! Good for her and the team for having a little fun with it, and getting some mutual good publicity.

Hey, do you think she'd come to my house if *I* made some wiseacre crack about her?

N. Cognito said...

Feel Wood said...
"Miss Iowa 2010 Katherine Connors was pulled from tonight's start just minutes before 1st pitch. This was a precautionary move due to Katherine having difficulty getting loose. Her status is day to day."

Too bad. I was really hoping she was loose.

Grandstander said...

Why would you WANT her to be loose? I usually have the opposite expectations for my women.

Feel Wood said...

Miss Iowa/Miss America rules probably prevent her from being a loose woman. Hence she would need to loosen up, no?

John Riggins said...

Loosen up, Sandy baby. You're too tight.

Grant Mulkey said...

Isn't this proof that we need to insult all beauty queens so we can get them to come to town to throw out first pitches?

Anonymous said...

Isn't this proof that we need to insult all beauty queens so we can get them to come to town to throw out first pitches?

Baseball PUA (pickup artists) move #23. Insult beauty contest winners, make them feel a bit self-conscious, then move in for the F-close.

meixler said...

hahahahahaha

I love this post and all the comments.

JackinDC said...

That's really nice. Batista is a gentleman.

jp23 said...

Maybe Miss Iowa will win win the President's race....

Anonymous8 said...

Funny, I heard during the radio broadcast a Captain Morgan rum commercial that claimed the "Captain" is throwing out the 1st pitch Friday.

Interesting, who is really throwing out the 1st pitch.

I also want to know if Miss Iowa really does know Joel Hanrahan!

Anonymous8 said...

http://mlb.mlb.com/sponsors/captain_morgan/first_pitch/

According to this webpage, Captain Morgan is throwing out the 1st pitch on Friday.

My guess is there are 2 1st pitches on Friday.

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