The postponement comes after Trump announced Thursday that he had agreed to launch the first ceremonial launch on August 15.
Speaking from the podium in the White House meeting room, Trump said team president Randy Levine “asked me to throw the first pitch” at Yankee Stadium. Trump said he accepted the offer and asked Levine, “What will the crowd be like?”
“You don’t have a crowd,” said the president. “There’s no such thing.”
Trump’s plan, however, was met with an immediate reaction from New York City officials.
Bronx County President Ruben Diaz said in a forceful statement Friday that “we all deserve better than a sloppy big league organization that consistently ignores the surrounding community while surrendering to an uncompromising white supremacist like Donald Trump “.
That message was echoed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who tweeted Saturday: “After CONDEMNING racism, the next step is not to invite him to his pitcher’s mound.”
The tradition of American presidents of pitching the first pitch in the big league games dates back to 1910.
Taft’s opening day launch kicked off an early-season tradition that spanned more than a century. While presidents in the 1920s and 1930s often threw the first pitch before World Series games, a president who took control during the Fall Classic has been much rarer in recent memory.
There was talk that Trump released the first launch in the World Series game last year, but rejected the idea and said he would have to wear “a lot of heavy armor” to make that appearance.
“I will look very heavy. I don’t like that,” he said at the time.
Instead, celebrity chef José Andrés, a prominent Trump critic, released the first pitch before Trump reached his seat.
CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia and Kyle Feldscher contributed to this report.
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