Kevin Spacey and Cal Ripken Jr. to Team Up for Fund-Raising Gala

SO far, the closest encounter that Kevin Spacey has had with the Baltimore Orioles was during the second season of the Netflix series “House of Cards,” when his character, Frank Underwood, worried about throwing out the first pitch at an Orioles game. Mr. Underwood, the vice president of the United States, feared embarrassing himself in front of tens of thousands of fans.

From his throwing motion in the episode, his fear was well founded: Frank Underwood can’t throw a baseball much better than an 8-year-old. Mr. Spacey insisted in a recent interview that this was merely acting, not a reflection on his own ability.

“What people don’t understand is I can throw a baseball, but I didn’t want it to look like Frank Underwood could throw a baseball,” Mr. Spacey said. “Politicians can never throw out a baseball.”

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