High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The ceremonial first ball is a longstanding ritual of American baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from his/her place in the grandstand to the pitcher or catcher of the home team. At some point, this morphed into the guest standing in front of the pitcher`s mound and throwing towards (but rarely reaching) home plate, though sometimes he or she may stand on the mound (as a pitcher would). The recipient of the pitch is usually a player from the home team.