Goodman throws a strike

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has thrown out a first pitch more than once at Major League spring training baseball games at Cashman Field. He actually hit his foot once and hasn’t come close to the plate on any occasion.

His aim was so wild you’d almost think he’d been drinking.

But on Monday morning at the new Lorenzi Park to celebrate the start of the World Masters Senior Softball Tournament, Goodman unleashed a called strike. It's true, sort of. I have witnesses.

Hearing of Goodman's accuracy and immediately suspecting something untoward had occurred, I had to investigate.

So I asked Las Vegas Senior Softball Association board member and longtime ballplayer Joe Callo for the real story.

“I told the umpire, I don’t care if that ball crosses the plate. If it hits the ground, you call it a strike,” Callo said.

Gravity being what it is, the ball eventually came to rest and was called a strike. The crowd cheered.

The 125-team tournament commenced.

Ballplayers as old as their 80s took the field and once again became boys of summer.

And the mayor, at last, had thrown a strike.