President Donald Trump announced on Sunday afternoon that he will not throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the New York Yankees’ Aug. 15 game against the Boston Red Sox.
“Because of my strong focus on the China Virus, including scheduled meetings on Vaccines, our economy and much else, I won’t be able to be in New York to throw out the opening pitch for the Yankees on August 15th,” President Trump wrote on Twitter. “We will make it later in the season!”
No other date has been set as of yet.
The decision is a quick turnaround from when he originally announced his decision to do so during the primetime game in the Bronx between two of Major League Baseball’s biggest rivals — first making the call on Thursday, just hours before Opening Day.
This came shortly after a photo emerged of the President playing golf with former NFL star Brett Favre at Trump’s private club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
While President Trump throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium likely would have been seen as a triumph in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, most of the United States is still dealing with sizable spikes of the virus in a majority of its states.
There is also the topic of MLB players kneeling before and during the national anthem amidst ongoing protests following the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis PD custody in May.
The President has been a staunch opponent against such forms of protest in professional sports and the Yankees knelt alongside the Washington Nationals on Opening Night Thursday before the national anthem was played.
