You guys are assigning the Nationals' PR department far too much credit. This is the same bunch responsible for the hot dog cannon that covered fans with shards of hot dogs and rolls instead of delivering an edible wrapped whole hot dog to them.

Millard Fillmore would be a good choice as he once was a member of the "Know-Nothings", and would fit right in to the DC mindset.

A very special episode of the racing presidents would be awesome...Wilson in a bed wheeled by wife, FDR in the chair, Eisenhower with his cane and Nixon chasing behind him, Reagan on his operating room bed, Coolidge with a microphone

Add Taft stuck in his bathtub.

They could use James Madison and pick a kid from the stands run in his place every game.

Millard Fillmore would be a good choice as he once was a member of the "Know-Nothings", and would fit right in to the DC mindset.

Point of order: The Know-Nothings weren't called that because they were ignorant (although they were), but because they were rooted in a secretive order of which they would disavow knowledge (think Colonel Klink).

I'll take the field. If I had to give out the money, I would not make "Field" more than 10-1.

I absolutely love the idea of a fake presidents race: Martin Sheen, Bill Pullman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, and Harrison Ford.

What, no Dann Florek?

I'd love for the Nationals to add Chester Arthur. He's the most successful President that John Q. Public knows absolutely nothing about. Chet would be the Moneyball choice.

It will be Nixon, I warrant

I absolutely love the idea of a fake presidents race: Martin Sheen, Bill Pullman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, and Harrison Ford.

Wikipedia has an absolutely fantastic list of fictional Presidents. From President William Abbott (in Allen Drury's Advise and Consent series) to President Young (from Space: Above and Beyond), along with the administrations of people like Lee Iacocca, Gary Hart, and Joseph Stalin.

I absolutely love the idea of a fake presidents race: Martin Sheen, Bill Pullman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, and Harrison Ford.

What, no Dann Florek?

Terry Crews.

I would not make "Field" more than 10-1.

Don't be silly. They're not going to put somebody even remotely obscure out there alongside the Rushmore contingent, unless there's a compelling hook like Taft's obesity.

I'd love for the Nationals to add Chester Arthur. He's the most successful President that John Q. Public knows absolutely nothing about. Chet would be the Moneyball choice.

I would agree on that...

Arthur was considered nothing but an empty yes-man lackey by the opposition. They were right - until he became President.

He was considered a reliable machine guy by his own party. They were also right - until he became President.

Consequently, he really had no one to sing his praises... the opposition was still bound up in what he was prior to becoming President, and his own side hated him as a turncoat.

IMO - he's probably the most underrated President in history.

And the Chester Arthur bonus: that crazy facial hair muttonchops-into-moustache thang.

because they were rooted in a secretive order of which they would disavow knowledge (think Colonel Klink).

Colonel Klink??? Colonel Klink?!? You sir, are no Hogan's Heroes fan. You mean, of course, Sgt. Schultz.

Oooh, you're right. Sgt. Schultz.

I absolutely love the idea of a fake presidents race: Martin Sheen, Bill Pullman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, and Harrison Ford.

I guess Geena Davis in heels, bra and panties would be over the line?

I guess Geena Davis in heels, bra and panties would be over the line?

Only for the politicians. They would be rather uncomfortable with such an accurate representation of their daily trade.

From the link in #110 I discovered that there is a movie coming out in 2013 called "The Butler", which is "based on the life of Eugene Allen, a real-life butler who served eight Presidents of the United States in the White House until his retirement in 1986."

And it has some very interesting casting choices:

Robin Williams as Eisenhower
John Cusack as Nixon
Alan Rickman as Reagan
Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan (sure to make Republican heads explode)

Also they should have a vice president's race. You could have a lot of fun with that.

fyi, from sports business journal guy

EricFisherSBJ 8:19pm via Twitter for iPad

Taft to be the choice for 5th president in @Nationals race. He has a handle at @NatsBigChief27

Jimmy Carter. Not a costume - they get the actual man himself.

LBJ - he can grab dogs by their ears and throw them at the other runners.

Nixon. He'll be to the President's Race what the Really Rottens were to the Laff-O-Lympics. Also hatching these fiendish tricks and having them backfire on him every time.

Coolidge. Make it a 2,000 foot race. He'll silently run the first 1927 feet and then choose not to run #1928.

Andrew Jackson: He'll shoot them. Or hit them with a hickory stick.

Thank you, Washington Nationals. Thank you so much.

They should definitely start doing presidents races with Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and Thomas Edison.

Wallace: Hamilton? He ain't no president.
D'Angelo: ...Ain't no ugly ass white man get his face on no legal tender, 'cept he president.

The Washington Post weighs in on the selection of William Howard Taft:

While the team considered all sorts of presidential options, this was actually an inspired choice. Taft avoids all the messy political subtext that virtually any post-war president would have created. He has an intimate connection with baseball, having started the tradition of ceremonial first-pitch tossing with a 1910 delivery before a shutout win by Walter Johnson at Griffith Stadium. He’s also widely credited with having accidentally created the seventh-inning stretch.

Plus, Taft’s facial hair and girth likely will inspire love and merchandise sales.

Bonus Link: Taft Fat Jokes & Anecdotes

Colonel Klink??? Colonel Klink?!? You sir, are no Hogan's Heroes fan.

But I film myself having sex with random women all the time!

Nixon. He'll be to the President's Race what the Really Rottens were to the Laff-O-Lympics. Also hatching these fiendish tricks and having them backfire on him every time.

I would really have loved this.

"IMO - [Arthur]'s probably the most underrated President in history."

I think James K. Polk has a pretty decent argument as well. Most people either haven't heard of Arthur or think of him as a run-of-the-mill president. However, I have heard fairly knowledgeable people mention Polk as being among the worst presidents in US history. Maybe Arthur is more underrated by the more historically aware, but among the general public I think Polk gives Arthur a run for his money. This has just been my personal experience.

I would agree on that...

Arthur was considered nothing but an empty yes-man lackey by the opposition. They were right - until he became President.

He was considered a reliable machine guy by his own party. They were also right - until he became President.

Consequently, he really had no one to sing his praises... the opposition was still bound up in what he was prior to becoming President, and his own side hated him as a turncoat.

IMO - he's probably the most underrated President in history.

Arthur had some merits but he was a serious disaster in terms of civil rights. While people talk about a general Republican turn away from civil rights after 1876, in fact Garfield's nomination had been part of an effort to wrest the party platform back toward civil rights (partly to protect their own self-interest in the South.)

Garfield had become a supporter of federal education as a way of both promoting education in general and mitigating the effects of creeping segregation. Albion Tourgee and others of his friends had long lobbied for this, and thought it was all but done. Garfield's assassination and his replacement by Arthur was a crushing blow (though other forms of education bills surfaced in Congress and came near passing.) Arthur was picked explicitly to appease the wing of the party that wanted to wash their hands of civil rights; Garfield won the platform and nomination, then gave them a VP as a sop.

I think James K. Polk has a pretty decent argument as well. Most people either haven't heard of Arthur or think of him as a run-of-the-mill president. However, I have heard fairly knowledgeable people mention Polk as being among the worst presidents in US history. Maybe Arthur is more underrated by the more historically aware, but among the general public I think Polk gives Arthur a run for his money. This has just been my personal experience.

A lot depends on how you see the war. Polk, maybe unfairly, bears the lion's share of the popular responsibility for the war. In periods of expansionism, he's celebrated. And in periods where the Civil War is seen as avoidable, he's celebrated.

In periods where there is either uneasiness with expansionism or a sense of the Civil War as a fundamental conflict, then Polk's stock plummets since the M-A war is clearly the starting point for the interpretation of the Civil War as essentially unavoidable. So Polk bears that weight plus, recently, the weight of the annexation of Texas' role in expanding slavery and feeding a dream of a slaveholders' empire around the Caribbean.

Those criticisms may be a bit unfair, but they aren't totally unfair, either.

Hee hee, the annexation of Texas has been a bad thing for the country in a lot of ways :)

Though maybe if this "Texas can split into as many as five states" thing can get D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood, something good could come of it.