White House says Opening Day petition outside its 'strike zone'

By Sun-Times staff

Baseball fans came up with one giant swing and a miss with their petition to get Major Leage Baseball’s Opening Day declared a national holiday.

While the petition did hit the 100,000 signature requirement to get a response from the White House, it’s not the one baseball fans were looking for.

Josh Earnest, Principal Deputy Press Secretary, filed the official response.

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.

And the Kansas City Royals fan ends with this:

Meanwhile, I’ll spend that day visualizing what it would be like to welcome my 2014 World Series Champion Kansas City Royals to the White House. That is, after all, the best part of Opening Day: every team is tied for first place and poised to make a run at the Fall Classic.

h/t: The Hill

Next Up In Politics

Will there be less wind to fuel wind energy?

Facing budget criticism, CPS officials say changes are 'milestone' to be celebrated

Bears President Kevin Warren: 'I'm not going to think negatively' about stadium obstacles

Arizona indicts 18 in case over 2020 election in Arizona, including Giuliani and Meadows

No love for new Bears stadium from Illinois' top Democrats

Bears eye taxpayers for stadium-related infrastructure costs. The bill? $325 million to start, $1.5 billion overall