Arnold Palmer starts 80th birthday celebration with first pitch at Pittsburgh Pirates game

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Arnold Palmer couldn't stop grinning as he walked to the mound Tuesday night carrying a baseball. He was at PNC Park to make the ceremonial first pitch before the Pittsburgh Pirates played -- and lost, of course -- to the Chicago Cubs. You knew something was up.

Sometime before or during his windup, the cagey Palmer made a switch. He threw a golf ball, not the baseball, to Jim Rohr, the chief executive officer of PNC Bank. After a laugh from Palmer and the rest of the on-field celebrities, Palmer threw the baseball for his second pitch. It was a fun way to start the celebration of Palmer's 80th birthday, which is Thursday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, who will kick off the National Football League season Thursday night when they play the Tennessee Titans, originally asked Palmer to celebrate with them as well, but Palmer said he simply had too many other activities already scheduled.

CBS announcer Jim Nantz was on hand to emcee the ceremonial first pitch, which actually delayed the start of the game by 11 minutes. There were nine chairs set up near home plate, all draped with Pirates jerseys that had No. 80 and "Palmer" on the back. The King, as Palmer is known, eventually put one on.

First came a little golf contest. The Pirates mascot, the Parrot, stood in centerfield with a flagstick as three celebrities took aim from home plate with wedges. Pirates broadcaster Steve Blass and current Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm were aiming for a small circle where the Parrot was stationed. They got three tries each and came relatively close. Then former PGA Tour winner Peter Jacobson, a long-time Palmer friend, took dead aim and bounced a low, looping wedge shot off the Parrot's posterior, winning $5,000 for charity and earning a hearty round of applause led by Palmer.

A video was played on the stadium scoreboard, an ode to Palmer with narration by Nantz, that featured grainy black-and-white highlights of Palmer's career. It included video of Jack Nicklaus putting the green jacket on Masters champ Palmer, but the footage was so old and faded that it looked like a blue blazer. The video ended with Nantz proclaiming Arnie "a treasure to the game of golf and a gift to mankind."

Palmer also received a proclamation from Pittsburgh city officials declaring it "Arnold Palmer 80th Birthday Day" (not the catchiest promotion idea), and he dutifully studied the folder before passing it on to his wife, Kit.

In the most significant moment of the evening, Rohr made a surprise announcement that PNC was going to donate $1 million in Palmer's name to the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. Palmer is well-known for his philanthropic efforts, especially in building the now-expansive Arnold Palmer Hospital for Women and Children in Orlando.

A modest crowd of more than 17,000 was in attendance, and several high-ranking Pirates officials who were introduced during the birthday festivities were understandably booed. A day earlier, the Pirates clinched their 17th consecutive losing season, a major league record. Fans watched the Cubs start the game with eight consecutive hits and seven runs in the top of the first inning. When that marathon finally ended and the Pirates came to bat, The Parrot approached Palmer in his box seats with a cake, and Blass led the stadium in a brief rendition of "Happy Birthday."

Before the game, Palmer told the crowd, "It's great to be in Pittsburgh." He said he's always been a fan of the Pirates and was, in fact, in attendance at old Forbes Field when Bill Mazeroski hit his famous Game 7-winning home run to beat the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series.