Donald Trump says no first pitch at Yankees game on Aug. 15; maybe 'later in season'

Tom Gatto

Donald Trump says no first pitch at Yankees game on Aug. 15; maybe 'later in season' image

UPDATE, July 26: Trump said Sunday on Twitter that the pitch has been delayed to "later in the season." He cited a busy schedule as the reason hw won't be able to make it to the Bronx for a Saturday night three weeks out.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will be throwing a ceremonial first pitch before a Yankees game this season, and he gave a specific date: Aug. 15, when the Bombers will be playing the Red Sox in a game to be telecast by Fox Sports.

The Yankees, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, confirmed a first pitch is coming but did not give a date. Trump said team president Randy Levine asked him to come to the Bronx to make the pitch.

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Trump made the announcement during a coronavirus briefing with reporters at the White House. Also in attendance was Yankees legend Mariano Rivera, who was voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in January. Rivera received the Congressional Medal of Freedom from Trump last September.

Trump acknowledged he would be making his pitch in an empty Yankee Stadium. Fans are not being allowed inside MLB parks to combat the spread of COVID-19.

The president's announcement also came before Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the top members of the White House's coronavirus task force, threw out the first pitch of the season before the Yankees-Nationals game in Washington. Trump has alternated between support of, and opposition to, Fauci during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.