Governor in the house

New Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will come home to St. Petersburg to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Rays April 6 home opener.

Crist was raised in St. Petersburg, graduated from St. Petersburg High and served as general counsel for the St. Petersburg-based National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues from 1982-87.

Said Crist: "To throw out the first pitch at a major league game is, of course, very exciting for me but even more so when it is the first game of the season at the ballpark in my hometown.''

Last year, three generations of the family of Tampa Hall of Famer Al Lopez handled the duties.

Here are the other previous first-pitchers:

Previous first pitches at Rays home openers.

1998 Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Monte Irvin and Al Lopez

1999 Larry Doby

2000 Wade Boggs

2001 St. Petersburg Mayor David Fischer

2002 U.S. Army General Tommy Franks

2003 Jon Gruden and Rich McKay

2004 Winky Wright, World Junior Middleweight Champion

2005 Racing legend Michael Andretti