When President Bush Sr. took Queen Elizabeth II to an Orioles game
Any story linking Queen Elizabeth II, George H.W. Bush, Cal Ripken Jr. and Reggie Jackson is too enticing for this baseball-loving Brit to ignore. The mere notion of Her Majesty attending a ballgame, as she did in May 1991, is endlessly evocative, and it deserves a detailed retelling.
The idea was conceived by President Bush himself, according to Character Matters, a 2024 compendium by former White House chief of staff Jean Becker. “We should take the Queen to an Orioles baseball game,” Bush purportedly told staffer Dorrance Smith. “It’s our national pastime!”
Paradoxically, the nation’s capital had no major league team at the time, with the Orioles of Baltimore the closest alternative. The finer details were ironed out in subsequent months, and Orioles spokesman Rick Vaughn confirmed the Queen’s visit – scheduled for 15 May 1991, when Baltimore played the Oakland Athletics – in early April.
Ahead of the trip, Her Majesty studied briefing papers on baseball, while a 1992 documentary – Elizabeth R – showed private secretary Robert Fellowes making preparations. At one point, Fellowes said Prince Philip, the Queen’s dutiful husband, would likely be asked to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at the Orioles game. That suggestion was quickly dismissed, however, with an eye to understated comportment.
Baseball, indeed, has often been denigrated by the British elite, mostly due to its overt Americanisation. “If baseball is to hold sway in this country, a new British nation will have to be born, and that will never be,” Alfred, Lord Tennyson, once declared, according to a July 1933 Daily Mirror report. “Give me cricket all the time.”
Nevertheless, British monarchy has occasionally brushed with baseball. For example, King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, once met Babe Ruth, while his predecessor, King George V, had a famous exchange with Casey Stengel during a European tour in 1924. Prince Philip himself claimed to have played baseball as a boy while attending The Elms, an American school near Paris, though the Queen pooh-poohed that suggestion.
Regardless, the 1991 royal visit spanned 13 days and 18 engagements. Upon arrival, Her Majesty gave an opening address from the White House lawn, where staffers failed to adjust the lectern, making the Queen barely visible – save for her striking hat. The awkward gaffe became a key talking point throughout the trip, during which Her Majesty became the first British monarch to address a joint session of Congress.
The baseball expedition came on 15 May 1991, as planned, with the Queen and Prince Philip chaperoned to Memorial Stadium by President Bush and the First Lady, Barbara. The illustrious party flew by helicopter to Baltimore, landing at Lake Clifton, before a limousine motorcade made its way to the ballpark.
Thousands lined the Baltimore streets, keen to catch a glimpse of royalty, though the Queen’s visit also attracted protests by Irish-American organisations, aggrieved at perceived British intransigence during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Plenty of union jack flags set a celebratory tone, but the Irish tricolour was also in evidence, along with placards bearing anti-monarchy slogans. Security was tightened as a result.
Before the game, a gourmet meal was arranged in the Dugout Lounge, where 200 guests gorged on an eclectic menu prepared by local caterer Howard Urick. Per a UPI report, Prince Philip chose tomato tortellini with garlic chicken for his main, foregoing other options, including beef tenderloin, Maryland crabcakes and blackened breast of turkey.
Duly fed and watered, the esteemed entourage progressed through the bowels of Memorial Stadium and emerged in the home dugout. Bulletproof screens were erected on the field, shielding the area, as both sets of players and coaches filed through to greet the feted quartet – one of history’s few opportunities to meet the President, the First Lady, a Queen and a Prince within 30 seconds.
Vaughn, the Orioles’ communications czar, made a subtle contribution to the staging. “I realised that any pictures of the Queen meeting the players would probably be with the Athletics, and not the Orioles,” said Vaughan, citing the popularity of Oakland stars like José Canseco and Mark McGwire. “So, a few hours before the Queen arrived, I went out to the dugout and there was already a secret service agent stationed there. I told him I had an idea, and I needed his help. I came back with a large banner that said ‘ORIOLES’ in script. He helped me hang it on the wall of the dugout directly behind where the official party would be standing. We had previously marked their places with Xs on the floor. And, as I suspected, many of the photos that ran in newspapers all over the world were the Queen with the Athletics players. But in the background, clearly visible, was the Orioles banner.”
In the procession, manager Tony LaRussa led the Athletics, whose roster included Rickey Henderson, Harold Baines and Dennis Eckersley, in addition to Canseco and McGwire, the vaunted Bash Brothers. Baltimore, meanwhile, was headlined by Cal Ripken Jr., who posed for a photo with the President against Vaughn’s makeshift backdrop.
Seemingly unaware of protocol, some players chewed gum while meeting the noble guests, and only a few removed their caps. The most compelling encounter came between Reggie Jackson – then an Oakland coach – and the Queen. Just three years earlier, Jackson starred in The Naked Gun, a popular spoof movie, intrinsic to an absurd storyline centred on a planned assassination of Her Majesty. In the film, Jackson was coopted by antagonist Vincent Ludwig to kill the Queen as she attends a game between the Angels and Mariners. A bumbling detective sneaks into the game, disguised as an umpire, and manages to thwart Jackson amid a mass brawl.
Life imitated art for Jackson, and despite every sequence being carefully choreographed with Hollywood-esque precision, the dignitaries caused real-life alarm by stepping out onto the Memorial Stadium field, beyond the bulletproof glass, once the procession finished. The Queen overruled British security officials to do so, much to the delight of 32,596 fans in attendance. However, considering the protests, and subsequent FBI papers revealing a foiled assassination plot during the Queen’s 1983 US visit – a real one, not a Reggie one – such a move was incredibly risky.
Fortunately, the impromptu field trip passed without incident, and the grandees retired to the luxury box of Orioles owner Eli Jacobs. Secretary of defense Dick Cheney, British foreign secretary Douglas Hurd, Maryland governor William Shaefer, White House chief of staff John Sununu, and baseball commissioner Fay Vincent joined the powerful quartet, again perched behind bulletproof glass, as the last strains of ‘God Save the Queen’ gave way to a quintessential ballgame.
“Prince Philip leafed through the media notes and scanned the stands and field with binoculars,” reported the Mercury News. “While Queen Elizabeth sat primly and looked bored.”
Indeed, Philip seemed intrigued by the action and ambiance, sharing animated conversation with Sununu. The Queen, by contrast, ‘asked a lot of questions about baseball’ and requested a martini, according to Robin Winternitz, a waitress who worked the owners’ box that day. Per the New York Times, Her Majesty was offered a hotdog, in accordance with baseball tradition, but declined, citing royal rules around eating in public.
According to noted athletics organiser Daniel Mitrovich, President Bush liked to tell a humorous tale from the ballpark encounter. When an Orioles batter walked, the Queen asked why he ambled down the baseline unimpeded. “Because he has four balls,” said Bush, per Mitrovich. “That must be frightfully uncomfortable,” the Queen replied.
Overall, Her Majesty seemed rather perplexed by the entire outing, though decorum fortified her stoic visage. “Problem was, well, there was very little action,” recalled Smith, the White House staffer, in Character Matters. “Which left the President in the role of explaining innings with no runs, or a bloop single, or double plays. There were no grand slams for the Grand Dame. Our national pastime was proving to be our own sticky wicket – a tricky or awkward situation. Patience was indeed building character!
“The Queen noticed the Orioles’ third base coach, ‘bandy-legged’ Cal Ripken, Sr. She asked the President, ‘What does that gentleman do?’ Gamely, the President said that his job was to either stop the runner on third base or signal him to continue on to home base and score a run. She said curtly, ‘Do you mean to tell me that is his entire lot in life?’ The President turned, pointed at me, and twirled his index finger – the signal to start up Marine One.”
The party stayed for just two innings, leaving at 8:38pm. The Athletics eventually won, 6-3, thanks to a late rally. The Queen left bearing gifts, however, thanks to Jacobs, the Orioles owner, who gave Her Majesty inscribed baseball bats tailor-made for each of her six grandchildren.
Neatly, almost 30 years later, one of those grandchildren – Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex – threw out the first pitch before MLB’s inaugural regular season game in London. His Royal Highness did the honours before a Yankees-Red Sox battle in 2019, making amends for his grandfather, Prince Philip, who probably would have obliged in Baltimore if the Queen had not intervened.
The Bush family also maintained close baseball ties, of course, with President Bush Jr. owning the Texas Rangers for five years. Indeed, one of the defining images of Bush Jr’s tenure came on the mound at Yankee Stadium, where he defiantly threw out a first pitch of his own during the 2001 World Series, mere weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Political allegiances aside, that was an iconic moment steeped in patriotic symbolism.
Alas, the four stars of this spectacle – the Bushes and the royals – are no longer with us. When Queen Elizabeth II died, in 2022, tributes poured in from around the world. Among them was a poignant reminiscence from Ripken Jr. “I had the opportunity to meet her briefly, and she was extremely friendly and engaging,” said the Iron Man. “Baseball provided me with many special experiences, and that was certainly one of them.”