Major League Baseball

Prince Harry throws out 1st pitch for Mets

Published Jun. 26, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Britain's Prince Harry has a pretty good arm.

Without much fanfare, Harry walked to the mound when the Mets ran onto the field before the first inning and received polite applause from the Citi Field crowd. He was wearing a blue Mets cap and a white T-shirt with ``walking with the wounded'' written on the front in red lettering. The Mets had made him a pinstriped jersey with ``Wales'' and the number 22 on the back.

The 25-year-old prince is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Harry, third in line to the British throne, will walk with wounded veterans participating in a road race through Central Park on Sunday.

Standing on the pitching rubber, Harry sheepishly waved to the crowd before shaking his right arm several times and doing a full body jiggle to loosen up. He then made a hard, accurate throw that was a little high, forcing catcher Rod Barajas to stand from his crouch to make the catch of the pitch that crossed the plate.

Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey gave Harry throwing advice about a half-hour before the game.

A lieutenant in the British Army, Harry spent several innings in a luxury suite with Mets owner Fred Wilpon, the founder of Welcome Back Veterans, a charity which provides support and treatment for soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder.

Earlier Saturday, Harry toured a UNICEF operations center.

On Sunday, Harry is scheduled to participate in a sporting event he is more familiar with: a polo match.

The third annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic on Governors Island, in New York Harbor, will benefit American Friends of Sentebale, the U.S. arm of the global charity co-founded by Harry.

Sentabale provides support to orphans and at risk children in Lesotho, an impoverished African nation whose inhabitants have one of the shortest average life expectancies in the world.

Harry was to promote his charity at a reception at a country club in Greenwich, Conn., later Saturday.

On Friday, Harry showed off his aim on the firing range at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he participated in training exercises with cadets. The activities included shooting an M4 rifle.

Harry served in Afghanistan in 2008 as a battlefield air controller until a media leak cut his time short.

Harry is on the second day of a three-day trip to New York City.

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