The petition urges the White House to declare the first day of the baseball season a national holiday. W.H. baseball petition hits 100K

Will the White House declare that this year, all of America can “play ball”?

A petition on the White House website to declare Major League Baseball’s opening day a national holiday reached the threshold of 100,000 signatures over the weekend, days before its 30-day deadline. All White House petitions that net 100,000 signatures within 30 days are guaranteed a response, according to the White House.


As of 7 a.m. Monday, the petition had more than 101,000 signatures. It needed to reach 100,000 by Wednesday.

The petition, which was promoted in an ad campaign by Budweiser and Hall of Fame Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith, urges the White House to declare the first day of the baseball season a national holiday.

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“It’s a day of hope. It’s a day that, for generations, has been looked forward to by baseball fans every off-season. It’s an American tradition, and it deserves to be recognized as an American holiday,” the petition said. “Join us in our quest to make sure every American can exercise their inalienable right to celebrate the day those two magical words are uttered for the first time: ‘PLAY BALL!’”

White House petitions have been used to promote a number of causes, from building a Death Star to deporting pop star Justin Bieber. The White House often takes its time responding to petitions that have reached the threshold, but the window to react to this one may be small: Opening day is March 31.

Budweiser said it hopes the White House will expedite its usual timeline.

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“We’re working with them to accelerate that so we can get a quicker response,” Tom Kraus, director of Budweiser Brand Marketing at Anheuser-Busch InBev, told MLB.com. “Once we get a quicker notification, we will share that info with our Facebook friends and all the folks who have been engaged in this movement with us. Then from there, we are working on specific market activations to bring this to life and thank the community and the White House for hopefully making this an official holiday.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.