When President Obama introduced Mary Jo White to be his pick to be the new SEC Chair, he famously warned that "You don't want to mess with Mary Jo!" Everyone logically assumed that he was referring to would-be securities fraudsters not wanting to mess with Mary Jo, but perhaps he was also referring to Major League Baseball hitters, as well?

I see (via the Twitter feed of the WSJ's Andrew Ackerman) that last night, Chair White threw out the first pitch at the game between the Washington Nationals and the visiting New York Mets. Was she as tough on the mound as she is known to be in a courtroom? Let's review the evidence.

So her release was a little high. But not bad. Made it over the plate. pic.twitter.com/TZaJTtCnBa

— Andrew Ackerman (@amacker) September 13, 2016

From his vantage point, Ackerman reports that Chair White's release point on the pitch was "a little high" but that it still made it over the plate. Pretty solid given that she was pitching in an SEC polo shirt and blue jeans that may have restricted her movement.  Let's credit her, then, with "Strike One" on the batter.

Next, as seen in this AP photo (Credit: AP/Alex Brandon), Chair White is clearly channeling her inner Luis Tiant -- the pitcher from the Boston Red Sox who was legendary for looking everywhere but at the batter during his windup. 

If you are a batter and you see a pitcher not even looking at you as she brings the heat, that has to throw you off of your game at least a little. So let's credit Chair White with "Strike Two."

Finally, what was the outcome of the pitch? As seen in the screenshot below from the Nationals' Snapchat account, the umpire for Chair White's pitch (the Nat's mascot Screech) called the borderline-high pitch a strike and emphatically "rang up" the imaginary batter facing White. Strike Three!

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