George H.W. Bush loved baseball and had the leather to prove it Posted Dec 5, 2018 After he became president in 1989, George H.W. Bush kept a prized possession in his Oval Office desk drawer: the first baseman's mitt he wore playing for Yale more than 40 years before. President Bush, who died Friday at age 94, kept the mitt oiled and pliant. He was a sportsman who enjoyed outdoor pursuits ranging from golf to fishing to tennis to sky diving even into his 90s. (USA Today)