President Donald Trump announced that he will not launch the first ceremonial pitch at Yankee Stadium on August 15.
In a tweet on Sunday afternoon, Trump cited his focus on the new coronavirus pandemic as a reason to postpone until “later in the season,” referring to the coronavirus with a racist description.
Since taking office in January 2016, Trump has not ruled out the first in a baseball game. During his press conference Thursday, shortly before the Yankees took the field to play the Nationals on opening day in Washington, DC, Trump said he would launch the first pitch before New York received the Red Sox on the 15th. of August. It was Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whom the president had been undermining in recent weeks when coronavirus cases skyrocketed across the country, who launched the first launch in National Park on Inauguration Day. The Yankees confirmed that Trump would launch a first pitch sometime this season later that night.
Fauci’s launch of the mound Thursday, while sporting a Nationals face mask and National No. 19 jersey, ended. just a little outside.
All members of the Yankees and Nationals. knelt in front of the national anthem on the opening day, participating in a unified demonstration. Both clubs wore “Black Lives Matter” jerseys and knelt in unison after holding a 200-yard black “unity tape”.
Two days later, the Yankees’ star outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks knelt during the anthem.
Trump attended Game 5 of the World Series last fall.
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