Trump to throw 1st pitch at Yankees game next month

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 24 July 2020

President Trump on Thursday said he has accepted an invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a New York Yankees game next month.

Throwing the first pitch is a presidential tradition dating back to 1910, and this will be Trump's first time participating. Trump, who grew up playing baseball, told reporters that after team president Randy Levine asked him to throw out the first pitch on August 15, he asked, "How's the crowd going to be?" Because of the coronavirus pandemic, "you don't have a crowd," he added. "There's no such thing."

Trump made the announcement shortly before Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert and now a household name because of his role in the coronavirus response, threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Washington Nationals. Fauci's throw was pretty far off, but he can always use the excuse that he was trying to make sure the ball and home plate were social distancing. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.