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Editorial: Step up to the plate, Herbie!
Op-Ed · May 05, 2016


When the Washington Nationals baseball team revealed Racing Herbie, a mascot that looks like President Herbert Hoover, West Branch’s most famous son has something no other Racing President has: A presidential library and museum.


And we certainly hope this whimsical form of the 31st Commander in Chief will boost his image and drive more tourists to the city that houses his library and museum.

When the 10-foot-tall bobblehead-shaped mascot burst out of the right-field wall on April 10, he raced against George (Washington) (President No. 1), Abe (Lincoln) (No. 16), Tom (Jefferson) (No. 3), Teddy (Roosevelt) (No. 26), and Bill (Taft) (No. 27).

And he won.

Way to go, Herbie!

The Nationals flash tidbits of trivia on the Jumbotron, telling about each of the Racing Presidents, which can only fuel interest in Hoover’s history.

“It’s something fun that gets Herbert Hoover out there in front of the general public,” Library-Museum Director Thomas Schwartz said.

And since the races are all in fun, even the comical ways in which some “presidents” cheat by riding motorbikes and rickshaws, they will certainly disarm, to some degree, concerns even by some of the older or more history-minded fans more familiar with some of the negatives associated with Hoover.

Perhaps some will begin to get a more realistic picture of what a president can, and cannot, influence or control from the Oval Office. Perhaps more will come to a better understanding of why the West Branch native earned the nickname, the Great Humanitarian.

Hoover’s love for the sport of baseball may even earn him some historical street cred with his nay-sayers. Not only did he play while a freshman at Stanford University and later manage the team, Hoover also threw out six first pitches at professional games.

“Next to religion, baseball has a greater impact on our American way of life than any other American institution,” Hoover said.

The Nationals received a lot of publicity with the announcement of Racing Herbie from media outlets like Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post, CBS Sports, Facebook, The Sun Times, Real Clear Politics, ESPN, Yahoo! Sports and more.

On July 4, the team will hand out 25,000 bobbleheads to fans and refrigerator magnets may follow.

Perhaps the Hoover Presidential Foundation will get Racing Herbie to visit West Branch sometime.

Either way, we are glad to see the Washington Nationals announce the addition of Hoover to its Racing Presidents and hope the Hoover Complex here sees an increase in interest and visitors because of it.