A little less eight years ago, George W. Bush flew into Yankee Stadium — his helicopter landing beyond the bullpen monuments in left-center field — and threw out the most memorable first pitch in presidential history.

Sept. 11 loomed large in our national rear-view mirror, and Bush — Nolan Ryan’s good friend — was there to help us return to normalcy. It’s hard to imagine another pitch as symbolic as that one.

But on a pleasant summer night at the new Busch Stadium, with baseball’s best players on the field and some of its most passionate fans in the stands, President Barack Obama delivered his own message Tuesday.

Wearing a White Sox jacket, blue jeans and sneakers, Obama softly tossed a pitch that Albert Pujols caught just as it was about to hit the ground in front of home plate.

As a pitch, it wasn’t much. But as a symbolic gesture, this ceremonial pitch before the All-Star Game, a 4-3 American League victory on the strength of Curtis Granderson’s eighth-inning triple and Adam Jones’ sacrifice fly, spoke louder than the roar from the pregame flyover.

So, too, did the joy with which Obama carried himself for his few minutes on the green grass, when he greeted Stan Musial and other St. Louis Hall of Famers, at one point trading salutes with Lou Brock.

During his half-inning in the Fox television booth, Obama said that the experience was “such a reminder of what’s great about our country.”

In regard to its role within the framework of America, baseball gets it. And perhaps more to the point, America still gets baseball.

All five living presidents were happy to participate in a pregame video tribute honoring exceptional work in public service.

Bush was cheered so loudly by the crowd of 46,760 that his words were practically drowned out. And a short time later, when the revered Pujols botched a fielding play in the first inning, no one booed.

Not on this night, not with the No. 1 fan in the house.

With 13 to 15 games almost every day from April through September, and the really good ones in October, baseball remains our leading national diversion. In boom times or with a down economy, as has been the case in 2009, Americans always seem to connect through baseball.

Earlier Tuesday, Commissioner Bud Selig had said he had been “stunned” that Major League Baseball’s attendance has not suffered more from the ongoing economic slump.

He cited the Dow Jones losing 41.4 percent off its high, unemployment climbing near 10 percent — “which is really horrifying to think about” — but said overall baseball attendance is down only about 4 percent after factoring in smaller ballparks opening in New York.

“It really is a great testament to our sport,” Selig said. “The sport has never been this popular. … Ten or 15 years ago, everybody was feeling sorry for baseball — ‘It’s boring, it’s dull, it’s past its time.’ It has been declared moribund for the last six decades, but these numbers keep adding up.”

With Budweiser’s eight-horse rig of Clydesdales circling the 4-year-old field in the pregame ceremonies, St. Louis’ traditions were on display. But the arrival of Obama always seems to shift gears into the present tense, and ultimately to the future.