Before he heads to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the retired Washington Post columnist will get things started for the Washington Nationals.
February 19, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. EST
Retired Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell will throw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of the Washington Nationals’ season opener against the Philadelphia Phillies on March 27 at Nationals Park.
For decades, Thomas Boswell was a constant and delightful presence in The Washington Post, chronicling the biggest moments in Washington and national sports. Here’s a look at some of his favorite and most memorable work.
“It’s my great honor to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day,” Boswell said in a statement. “I’d be better suited to write about and perhaps make fun of someone else doing it. But, for a D.C. native who waited 33 years for a team to return to town and then win the World Series six years ago, fantasy-come-true is an understatement.
“Thanks to the Nats. And to Washington’s fans for our rich, fun 50-year ride together.”
In December, Boswell was named the 2025 winner of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Career Excellence Award, one of the highest honors bestowed upon baseball journalists. He will be honored at this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend in July and recognized in the “Scribes & Mikemen” exhibit in the Library of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Over his 52-year career as a Post sportswriter and columnist, Boswell covered 44 consecutive World Series. The District native wrote about the Washington Senators before they left for Texas following the 1971 season and the Nationals after they began play in Washington in 2005, and was in the press box when they won the World Series in 2019. Though formally retired since 2021, he still occasionally writes columns for The Post when the mood strikes him.
“We are honored to have Tom throw out the first pitch on Opening Day. He’s been a tremendous champion of Major League Baseball in Washington, D.C., and he is truly deserving of this honor,” Nats owner Mark Lerner said in the statement. “We were so happy to see Boz recognized by the Hall of Fame, and there is no better person to help us start our 20th Anniversary season. My father was such an admirer of his work, and we are all so excited to see him in Cooperstown this summer.”
