Washington Nationals: Their fans ‘rule the world’

Only one baseball team has members of the Supreme Court swarming to games, has players mixing it up with David Petraeus and Ben Bernanke. Nationals fans, says outfielder Jayson Werth, “rule the world.’’ Here’s a look at a few prominent supporters.

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President Obama

POTUS picked the Nats and his hometown Chicago White Sox as his World Series favorites. After their nearly four years in town, we don’t know which team Sasha and Malia like better. Left, Obama throws out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day in 2010.

Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post

Harry Reid

The Senate majority leader is a Nats fan all the way. He also says he fields questions nearly every day about fellow Nevadan Bryce Harper, the team's 19-year-old phenom. At left, columnist and Nats regular George Will, Reid and Harper.

Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call

Colin Powell

The former secretary of state, national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been known to take in a few games. Behind him, the giant bust of George Washington, one of the Nationals’ four ''racing presidents.''

Richard A. Lipski / The Washington Post

Ben Bernanke

In a recent Indiana speech, the Federal Reserve chairman praised the way the Nationals have gradually assembled a team. On a recent clubhouse visit, Jayson Werth wanted to talk with Bernanke about qualitative easing, but Bernanke kept matters on baseball. Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, left, and first baseman Adam LaRoche, center, greet Bernanke before a game on Sept. 7.

Alex Brandon / AP

John McCain

The U.S. senator, tongue in cheek, once suggested a congressional investigation of why Nats mascot Theodore Roosevelt hadn’t won the fourth-inning foot-race of the presidents around Nats Park. At left, the Arizona Republican gives a pep talk to Teddy in a comedy video shown on the scoreboard during the Oct. 1 game.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

The punditocracy

It’s not just George Will. Charles Krauthammer and NBC's David Gregory have been regulars since the Nats arrived in town in 2005. Also among the journalistic fans, Gerald Seib, the Wall Street Journal’s Washington bureau chief, and Bob Schieffer, host of “Face the Nation” on CBS, (although Schieffer also remains a fan of the Texas Rangers). What if the Rangers meet the Nats in the World Series? “I don’t know what I’d do,” Schieffer told The Post’s Marc Fisher. “I can’t bring myself to think about it.”

Roxanne Roberts / The Washington Post

Mitch McConnell

The Senate Republican leader does agree with Reid, his Democratic counterpart, on the Nats. Of course, Kentucky doesn’t have a pro baseball team, unless you count the across-the-river Cincinnati Reds, who may just see the Nats in the postseason.

Stan Honda / AFP/Getty Images

David Petraeus

When the CIA director and Army general visited the clubhouse earlier in the season, he was interested in some classified information — the grip that the 21-victory starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez puts on the ball.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Sonia Sotomayor

The nation's first Hispanic justice is just one of five Supreme Court members who’ve taken in the Nationals this year. Could a disputed umpiring call make its way to the highest court in the land?

Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images

Gen. Martin Dempsey

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was a presence during the 2012 season and threw out the first ball in Game 5 of the Nats' postseason series with St. Louis. No, he's not practicing his grip here; he's speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mark Wilson / GETTY IMAGES

David Axelrod

President Obama's campaign senior adviser was among those at chilly Game 5 of the Nats series with St. Louis. He couldn't keep from his smartphone for very long, tweeting with glee at the strong Nats start. "Man, they came our of the gates like Joe Biden!''

Charles Dharapak / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

epa03708924 Franziska (C) wears a helmet and carries a shield during the recreation of The Battle of the Teutoburg Museum in Bramsche, Germany, 20 May 2013. The everyday life of Romans and the Germanic people is depicted at Museum Park Kalkriese during the Romans and Germanic people days. EPA/Friso Gentsch

Photos of the day

Battle of Teutoburg Forest reenactment, Mars Curiosity rover drilling, massive tornado strikes Moore, Oklahoma and more.

A Burrowing owl tries to perch on a protective rope in a public park in Cooper City, Fla. Monday, May 20, 2013 as rain falls. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Animal views

Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.

ANNAPOLIS, MD - MAY 20: The Herndon Monument Climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the United States Naval Academy. The plebes climb to the top of the lard-covered 21 foot high monument and remove the 'dixie cup' hat at the top replacing it with an upperclassman's hat. After completing this, the freshmen are called 'fourth class midshipmen.' This class completed the task in 1 hour 32 minutes and 43 seconds. The hat was placed by Patrick Lien from Orlando. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The Herndon Climb

The Herndon Monument climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy.

This combination of Associated Press photos shows left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., in ruins on Tuesday, May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma, and right, flattened houses in Moore on Monday, May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. (AP Photo)

Okla. tornado loosely followed path of 1999 twister

Monday’s powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the area in May 1999.

Lea Bessinger salvages a picture of Jesus as she and her son Josh Bessinger sort through the rubble of the elder Bessinger's tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tornado near Oklahoma City causes more damage

Rescue workers are searching for survivors after a twister carved a long path of destruction in a suburb of Oklahoma City. It was part of the...

FILE - In this undated publicity file photo, members of the Doors, from left, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, pose for a portrait. Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died at 74. Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says in a news release that Manzarek died Monday, May 20, 2013, at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. (AP Photo, File)

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the Doors, dies at 74

Manzarek co-founded the Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock-and-roll...

US actress Rosario Dawson smiles on May 20, 2013 as she arrives for the screening of the film 'Wara No Tate' (Shield of Straw) presented in Competition at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. Cannes, one of the world's top film festivals, opened on May 15 and will climax on May 26 with awards selected by a jury headed this year by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLIALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images

Eye on entertainment

Rosario Dawson, Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Bow Wow, Amy Poehler and more.

A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 2 OF 30 FOR PACKAGE 'ETHIOPIA'S ANCIENT SALT TRAIL'
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Ethiopia’s salt trail

For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...

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