Queen Elizabeth ll, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, dies at 96
Queen Elizabeth ll ascended to the throne after the death of her father in 1952.
Staff Video, USA TODAY
On May 15, 1991, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attended a Major League Baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics with then-President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush.
At Memorial Stadium in Baltimore as part of a two-week United States tour, Elizabeth and Philip shook hands with players in the dugout before the game and waved to fans from the field.
Oakland pitcher Dave Stewart remembers the day fondly, telling USA TODAY Sports that he tried cracking a joke to the queen.
“I remember like it was yesterday. We were all lined up to meet her in that procession,” recalls Stewart, whose No. 34 will be retired by the A’s on Sunday. “So Three Stooges was one my favorite comedies. … So when she passed (in line), I did like a Three Stooges thing: ‘Queenie, nyuk nyuk.’
“She laughed. Well, cracked a smile. … Put it like that. The rest of the team was cracking up.
“It was cool for me. I’m sure it was for everybody too, but I had to go act like a god-dang fool.”
The group ended up in a luxury box with then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, Maryland Gov. William Donald Shaefer and MLB commissioner Fay Vincent, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
Per the Mercury News report in 1991:
“Prince Phillip leafed through the media notes and scanned the stands and field with binoculars, while Queen Elizabeth sat primly and looked bored.”
Queen Elizabeth died Thursday at Balmoral Castle, her estate in Scotland. She was 96.
