President William Howard Taft was a large man with a big appetite for food and baseball. During a visit to St. Louis, he was treated to generous portions of both.
On May 4, 1910, Taft attended two big-league games that afternoon, watching an inning of a National League matchup, Reds versus Cardinals, at Robison Field before going to Sportsman’s Park to see some American League action between Cleveland and the Browns.
A month earlier, at Washington, D.C., Taft became the first U.S. president to attend an Opening Day baseball game. He threw the ceremonial first pitch to Walter Johnson, who then crafted a one-hit shutout for the Senators in their victory against the Athletics. Boxscore
Described by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a “jovial baseball fan,” Taft attended 14 big-league games during his term (1909-13) as president, according to the book “Baseball: The Presidents’ Game.”
Athlete and student
Born and raised in the Mount Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati, Taft “loved baseball and was a good second baseman and a power hitter” as a youth, according to Peri E. Arnold, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Notre Dame.
At Yale University, Taft was intramural heavyweight wrestling champion as a freshman, according to the National Constitution Center. (In 1997, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla.)
However, on the advice of his father, Taft gave up sports to focus on his studies. He graduated second in his class at Yale. Taft went to law school at the University of Cincinnati, became an attorney and then a judge in Ohio.
Encouraged by his wife Nellie to get into national politics, Taft accepted an offer from President William McKinley in 1900 to lead a commission to oversee the Philippine Islands.
As Peri E. Arnold noted, “Out of the victory in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Islands had become a U.S. protectorate. McKinley wanted Taft to set up a civilian government. This entailed drafting and implementing laws, a constitution, an administration and a civil service bureaucracy.”
Taft improved the economy of the Philippine Islands, built roads and schools, and gave the Filipino people participation in government, according to the White House Historical Association.
In February 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Taft to the cabinet as secretary of war. “Taft became Roosevelt’s chief agent, confidant and troubleshooter in foreign affairs,” according to Peri E. Arnold. “He supervised the construction of the Panama Canal, made several voyages around the world for the president … and functioned as the provisional governor of Cuba.”
Taft served as secretary of war for four years before he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in June 1908. He won the election, defeating Democrat William Jennings Bryan, and was inaugurated in March 1909.
Motor man
President Taft’s main purpose for visiting St. Louis on May 4, 1910, was to address the Farmers Convention. His agenda for that Wednesday also included a businessmen’s luncheon, a dinner banquet with transportation leaders and the two baseball games.
The plan was to drive Taft from point to point during his stay. Taft was an automobile enthusiast. According to William Bushong of the White House Historical Association, “Taft believed in the future of the automobile and … was never happier than in the back seat of his touring car speeding through the countryside with the wind in his hair. Not required to observe speed limits or stop signs when driving the president, chauffeur George H. Robinson would blow the horn in advance of an intersection and fly through it.”
In 1910, most people didn’t have automobiles _ the number of cars in the U.S. then totaled 500,000 for a population of 92.2 million _ and driving laws still were being worked out.
For Taft’s drives through St. Louis, it was arranged for the fire department chief and four firemen with a chemical tank and hose to trail the president “on every foot of his journey,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “The police have agreed to waive the speed limit for one day and everywhere the president goes he will burn up the ozone at a terrific rate … There will be only one restriction on the president while here, and that is he must obey that part of the new traffic ordinance which directs automobiles to keep on the right side of the street at all times.”
Food for thought
Taft’s train from Cincinnati, where he attended the opening of the May Music Festival, arrived in St. Louis’ Union Station at 8:30 a.m. At least 1,000 uniformed St. Louis police officers, 75 plainclothes detectives and the entire 93-man mounted police force were called to duty, joining a Secret Service escort in providing protection for the president, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.
From the train station, Taft was whisked to breakfast at the St. Louis Club on Lindell Boulevard. Taft weighed more than 300 pounds and he arrived in St. Louis hungry. For breakfast, he consumed two slices of corn bread, a portion of fish, two eggs on toast, three lamb chops, an olive, a radish, two pieces of celery and three cups of coffee, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Fortified, Taft was driven to the St. Louis Coliseum at Washington and Jefferson avenues for his 11 a.m. speech at the Farmers Convention. The Coliseum was a state-of-the-art entertainment and convention venue. Italian tenor Enrico Caruso performed there in April 1910 with the Metropolitan Opera Company.
After delivering his speech before a gathering of 8,000, Taft was driven to the Southern Hotel for a noon luncheon with the Business Men’s League. The menu featured soft shell crab, milk-fed chicken breast and strawberry melba.
Taft enjoyed a bowl of soup before the crab course was presented. He “took one bite of the crab and then put it aside,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “He refused to even look at the crab and for several minutes showed no interest in the meal. He glanced at a cucumber sandwich and bestowed an equal favor on some asparagus. The president’s eyes brightened considerably when he was brought a breast of milk-fed chicken. Seizing his knife and fork, he proceeded to show what a hungry man can do to a well-cooked chicken. Taft had his chicken finished before the others near him had fairly begun on theirs.”
Big fan
The end of lunch signaled it was time for baseball. In his remarks to the luncheon crowd, Taft said, “I attend baseball games for two reasons: First, I enjoy the game, and, second, I want to encourage it.”
On his way to Robison Field for the 3:30 game between the Reds and Cardinals, Taft stopped at the YWCA headquarters at Seventh and Olive streets and pledged support for the organization’s $400,000 building fund campaign.
At the ballpark, Taft took his place in a special box seat section built for him next to the Cardinals’ bench, the Globe-Democrat reported. He received a rousing reception from most of the 4,500 spectators, according to the newspaper.
It was pre-arranged that Taft would leave the game at 4 p.m.
After the Reds went down in order against hard-throwing Bob Harmon, the Cardinals teed off on a former teammate, Fred Beebe. Miller Huggins, whom the Cardinals acquired for Beebe, led off with a walk. Sending 10 batters to the plate, the Cardinals used four singles, three walks and some shoddy fielding by the Reds to score five runs in the first.
Then it was time for Taft to depart. He didn’t miss any suspense. The Cardinals scored seven runs in the third and cruised to a 12-3 triumph. Boxscore
The Browns led, 1-0, when Taft entered Sportsman’s Park in the third inning while Terry Turner was at bat for Cleveland. The game was halted and the players lined up to greet Taft as he walked past. Ten box seat sections were reserved for Taft and his entourage. Taft was provided a special chair, with ample width, on which to sit, the Globe-Democrat reported.
Most of the 4,200 spectators gave Taft an ovation before he settled in to watch the game. The Browns’ pitcher was Joe Lake, a Brooklyn native and former dockworker. Cy Young, 37, pitched for Cleveland.
The score still was 1-0 when Taft prepared to leave after the top of the fifth. As the president was exiting, Browns pitcher Rube Waddell, the eccentric former Athletics ace described by the Society for American Baseball Research as having “the intellectual and emotional maturity of a child,” ran to Taft and offered his hand. “Taft shook it heartily,” the Globe-Democrat reported.
Taft was in his suite at the Hotel Jefferson by 5 p.m. Meanwhile, the Browns kept playing. With the score tied, 3-3, the game was halted after 14 innings because of darkness. Boxscore
At a banquet in the hotel that night, Taft feasted on lake trout, filet mignon and frozen pudding before addressing members of the Traffic Club, mostly railroad executives and representatives of other transportation industries.
When he finished, printed copies of songs were placed at every plate and guests were encouraged to sing along as the orchestra played popular tunes. “The president sang with especial gusto when ‘Has Anybody Seen Kelly?,’ ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame,’ ‘I’ve Got Rings On My Fingers, Bells On My Toes,’ and ‘Sun Bonnet Sue’” were rendered, the Globe-Democrat reported.
Then Taft was driven to Union Station, where he boarded his private railroad car attached to a Baltimore & Ohio train. When the train departed for Washington, D.C., at 1:45 a.m., Taft was sound asleep.
RetroSimba 
And I would imagine he slept pretty well…but for maybe some indigestion. Great story showing a very human side of this former President.
Thanks, Ken. It was a fun one to research.
An aside: During his day in St. Louis, Taft had a terrible toothache “and was in need of having a molar pulled,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported. He almost had a St. Louis dentist do it to alleviate the pain, but instead he waited until he got back to Washington.
If not for the toothache, he might have really chowed down…
What a wild ride this read is, literally, with Taft’s driver driving as fast he could and just imagining a town or city with so few automobiles. As much as I love looking at old cars, I also love walkways where cars are not allowed and then other things can be heard like birds and people. An interesting president to say the least.
The American involvement in the the Philippine Islands fascinates me, partially because I worked for 10 years in a hospital warehouse delivering supplies all over the hospital and a large majority of my co-workers were from there and so like all of us, when we meet and get to know people, all assumptions and prejudices melt away and the person can be treated as an individual.
I loved your detailed description of Taft’s enormous capacity to eat! I’m reminded of Augustus Gloop from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Thanks for sharing your comments about getting to meet and respect Filipinos, Steve. Yes, Taft’s involvement in the Philippine Islands is fascinating. According to Peri E. Arnold on the University of Virginia Miller Center Web site, “Upon arriving in the islands, Taft immediately clashed with the military governor, General Arthur MacArthur (the father of General Douglas MacArthur of World War II and Korean War fame). Taft viewed the military control of the islands as too brutal and unsympathetic to the islanders. Obtaining McArthur’s removal, Taft quickly set to work drafting the Island’s constitution. It included a Bill of Rights that was nearly identical to the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, with the notable absence of the right to trial by jury. Central to the new governance structure was the role of civil governor, a post to which Taft was appointed. He established a civil service system, a judicial system, English-language public schools, a transportation network, and health care facilities. He also negotiated with the Vatican to purchase 390,000 acres of church property in the Philippines for $7.5 million. Taft distributed this land by way of low-cost mortgages to tens of thousands of Filipino peasants.”
Good thing Taft came along because as I understand it, there was some serious colonization going on like trying to convert the country into america or maybe that’s an exaggeration.
Dear Mr. Simba, as a proud Globe-Democrat employee from April 1976 until September 1985 (when paychecks were bouncing like Billikens basketballs), I am so pleased that you sought out my beloved paper in researching and reporting on President Taft’s visit to, at that time, one of the largest American cities. Taft and President T. Roosevelt helped modernize the Philippines, the country my wife and stepsons are from. Taft was a forward-looking president in many ways, mostly ones good for the economy of the majority of citizens. I enjoy your reports immensely. Thanks, and I can edit for you if you need an editor.
Bill Townsend
Hi, Bill. Your readership is much appreciated and it’s extra-special coming from a former Globe-Democrat journalist. I appreciate how the Globe-Democrat during your time often was the newspaper digging hardest for fresh angles, anticipating the news instead of just reacting to it.
Thanks for your insights about Taft and the Philippines. Peri E, Arnold, professor emeritus of political science at Notre Dame, supports your contention. On the University of Virginia Miller Center Web site, Arnold wrote, “While in the Philippines, Taft had twice turned down President Teddy Roosevelt’s offer of a Supreme Court appointment in order to finish his work in the Islands. Taft was loved and supported by many Filipino residents for his evenhanded governance. In Taft’s view, the Filipinos were not yet capable of governing themselves, and he believed that it would take years before self-rule would work. He foresaw a long period of U.S. instruction and protection of the islands through which the culture could be raised by American tutelage to capacities for independent governance. The Philippines did not achieve self-rule and independence until 1946.”
Mark, a great read on Taft’s day (and night!). He clearly enjoyed promoting the national pastime, and he made quite the effort on this visit. I too imagined what it would be like to have a presidential motorcade when there were not-so-many motors on the roads to begin with. Enjoyed this trip back in time.
Thank you, Bruce. There was an interesting connection between Taft and the Phillies.
During his presidency, William Howard Taft saw the Phillies beat the Reds, 8-5, at Cincinnati on May 7, 1912. Phillies rookie starter Tom Seaton was the winning pitcher. Seaton also tripled and scored a run. https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1912/B05070CIN1912.htm
Charles P. Taft, half-brother of President Taft, helped fund Horace Fogel’s purchase of the Phillies in 1909. Charles P. Taft was the owner of the Phillies’ ballpark. After Fogel was banned from baseball in 1912, Charles P. Taft engineered the sale of the Phillies to William Locke.
That was quite a day of consuming calories. I suppose the only thing missing were beer and hot dogs at the ball park. From what I understand President Taft lost around 100 pounds with diet and exercise. William Howard Taft was certainly an interesting and important individual in American history and politics. His falling out with Theodore Roosevelt may have cost him reelection.
That’s a good line about the only thing missing from Taft’s culinary tour of St. Louis were beer and hot dogs at the ballpark, Phillip. I’d propose he also goofed by not insisting on a stop at a market on The Hill for some authentic Italian deli treats.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, after leaving the Browns game, the original itinerary called for Taft to be driven on a tour of Forest Park and then play a few holes of golf at a country club. However, Taft asked to be taken directly from Sportsman’s Park to the Jefferson Hotel so that he could freshen and rest a bit before the dinner banquet. He arrived at the hotel at 4:55 p.m., the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.
During his presidency, Taft attended one other big-league baseball game in St. Louis. On Sept. 23, 1911, he saw the Cardinals beat the Phillies, 3-2. (See comment above about his Phillies connection at that time.) https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1911/B09230SLN1911.htm
To your point about his weight, according to the National Constitution Center, Taft “weighed 243 pounds when he graduated from college. He struggled with his weight and may have weighed more than 330 pounds as President. But he was at his college weight at the time of his death.”
According to professor emeritus Peri E. Arnold, “On March 8, 1930, Taft died from complications of heart disease, high blood pressure and inflammation of the bladder.”