Apr. 2 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996 say that this is not my case, and I would be NOTE: The President's 117th news conference offended, and it would be a lack of respect began at 12:36 p.m. in Room 450 of the Old Exec- for the United States and for the President of utive Office Building. President Scalfaro spoke in the United States, but also for Italy and for Italian, and his remarks were translated by an in- myself. And that's all I have to say. terpreter. President Clinton. Thank you very much. Interview With Jon Miller and Fred Manfra of WBAL Radio in Baltimore, Maryland April 2, 1996 Q. Here's the pitch to Bobby Bonilla, and The President. Well, he's got the only two Bonilla takes ball one outside. So I guess that RBI's, doesn't he? ends some of the conversations about how Q. Two-run single in the first inning for Cal, Cone's arm is. and now we're a 2±2 ball game. Hey, and look who just stopped in. Mr. Presi- I'm glad you were able to come over today. dent. We thought you might be able to be here yes- The President. How are you? terday, and then we got rained out. But we're Q. How are you, Mr. President? Bill Clinton very pleasedÐÐ is here with us. The pitch to BonillaÐÐ The President. Beautiful day today, though, The President. I'm the good luck charm when isn't it? I'm on this radioÐÐ Q. Fantastic. Q. Oh, yeah, definitely. In fact, when you The President. And the wind's not too bad were with us last year, Bobby Bonilla came up inside which is good. and promptly hit one over the center field wall. Q. Two and 0 to Cal Ripken. Bonilla at sec- And he drives this one deep into right center ond. fieldÐÐ The President. Strike. The President. No, no. Yes. Q. Down around the knees. Two balls and Q. This one is bouncing over the wall. one strike. The President. Ground rule double. That's The President. A little too low to hit, though. good. Q. Did you get a chance to see Cal before Q. And right after Bonilla hit that home run, the game? then Ripken came up, and he did the same The President. Yes. He baited me about going thing. In fact, President Clinton, you broadcast out on the pitcher's mound because last year that Ripken home run which was an historic I stood in front of the mound and startedÐ night. You were part of it. So let's go back [laughter]Ðso he said, you know, ``That's what now and take a listen here. This is how it hap- that mound is there for. You're supposed to pened. step up on top of it.'' [Laughter] Q. And he fouls it off back out of play. The President. So I asked him if he were [At this point, WBAL played an audiotape of baiting me. He said, ``No, no.'' He said, ``If the President's remarks in 1995.] you don't want to go out there and do what The President. That was a great day. you're supposed to do, it's all right with me.'' Q. We've played that 500 times since then, [Laughter] and everybody loves that. Here's Cal the fol- Q. Well that's great. You got the Ripken treat- lowing season as we pick up again, and Presi- ment. dent Clinton is here with us. And again, every- The President. So I had to go up there and body with such indelible memories of that great stand on the mound. night, Mr. President. What do you think now? Q. You're like part of the family now if he Cal taking ball one from Appier. was talking to you like that. Well, you stood 534 VerDate 06-OCT-99 14:02 Oct 11, 1999 Jkt 010199 PO 00001 Frm 00534 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 C:\96PUBP~1\PAP_TEXT txed01 PsN: txed01 Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996 / Apr. 2 up there, and you threw a strike in there. Nice The President. We had a tough winter. going. Q. Baseball has brought the sunshine back. The President. It was a slow strike, but I There's a pitch inside to Surhoff. Two and got it over. one, the count. Q. Two and two to Cal Ripken, batting with The President. Look at the flag blowing up two down and Bonilla at second in the last of there. You'll see how hard the wind is, though, the third inning. Kevin Appier. and you don't feel it in here, which is good. The President. He hit a hard ball there. That Q. Yeah, I've been downtown on top of one was a hard, good double. of the buildings. The flag is standing straight Q. Now the pitch. There's a looping liner. out at attention out there, but inside here, very Shallow centerÐÐ comfortable. The President. Get down. Get down. But I was impressed. I mean, you walked Q. Base hit. Here comes Bonilla, and Ripken out on the mound, and we've seen guys bounce has done it again. Another Presidential base hit them in there. But you put it right in. Did for Cal Ripken. We may have to have you on you warm up ahead of time? every time he bats. The President. I did. I got toÐhurry. Well, it looked like he got a little slider that Q. Pop foul over third base side over into kind of hung up there above the knees, and the seats, reaching in. he blooped it into shallow center. And Bobby The President. He nearly got there, didn't he? Bonilla scored. I have a feeling that Alomar, Q. Yeah. And not getting it was Lockhart. Palmeiro, Bonilla, Ripken, they're going to com- Gave it a good shot. Two and two, the count. bine for a few runs this year. Who warmed you up? You played catch with The President. They'll do well. And this guy, somebody? Surhoff, is good, too. He can hit. The President. Well, Mr. Angelos threw me Q. He hit .320 last year with Milwaukee. Very a few balls. fine. Not a power-type hitter, but he gets the Q. Yeah? ball to all fields. And he takes ball one, down The President. YeahÐ[laughter]Ðbelieve it or and in, on a breaking ball. One ball and no not. We threw about 20 balls together, and then strikes. I threw about 20, 30 more balls down there, Now last year you had your daughter, Chel- just fooling around. And then I came out and sea, here andÐÐ put a jacket on and a cap on. The President. She was here. She's a little Q. Two and two to Surhoff. And a fast ball jealous that I'm here today, but she had to go tailing outside for a ball. Three and two, the to school today. [Laughter] You know, she and count. her mother just took a wonderful trip. They Well, we put out tapes and CD's of the whole went to see our forces in Bosnia, and then they Ripken thing last September and raised money went to Turkey and Greece. So I told her she for charity. got to go to Turkey, Greece, and Bosnia, and The President. That's great. I got to go to Baltimore. [Laughter] Q. And everywhere we went after they com- Q. So you're even. pleted that, people commenting about how The President. That's the deal. That's right. much fun it was that you were on the air. And Q. Yeah, you're even. Here's a foul ball back when Cal hit that home run, it wasÐthere you into the upper deck. One ball, one strike, to were, the First Fan. Surhoff. The President. Well, we were all so happy, Well, we thought maybe she'd get spring you know. It was aÐwhat? break or something. Next time on opening day, Q. That's what B.J. Surhoff is saying as they declare spring break over here. call him out on strikes. One ball, one strikeÐÐ The President. It looked like it was inside, The President. They missed so many days this didn't it? winter; they need to go more, not less. Q. Two feet inside, I thought. And that's what Q. That's right. B.J.'s arguing, too. But he's called out on strikes. The President. It's good to see springtime out The President. I toldÐI went down to see here, isn't it? the umpires before the game, and I said that Q. It sure is. I really wanted to see them because they were 535 VerDate 06-OCT-99 14:02 Oct 11, 1999 Jkt 010199 PO 00001 Frm 00535 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 C:\96PUBP~1\PAP_TEXT txed01 PsN: txed01 Apr. 2 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996 the only people in the country that got second- But the unique thing about it is, it's going guessed more than I did. [Laughter] So I like to beÐthe base line is going to be even closerÐ those guys. I'm for them, you know. They are I mean, the foul line is going to be even closer the company misery loves. [Laughter] toÐthe base lineÐto the stands than here. And Q. Well, that's it for the Orioles in the third home plate's going to be even tucked in tighter inning.