To fat to throw...

Trump now says he won’t throw first pitch at Aug. 15 Yankees game

The president says his “strong focus on the China Virus” will prevent him from doing what he said he was going to do three days earlier.

By POLITICO STAFF

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would not be throwing out the first pitch at a New York Yankees game next month after all.

“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,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “We will make it later in the season!”

The president announced on Thursday that he would throw out the first pitch in the Aug. 15 game against the Boston Red Sox, hours before Anthony Fauci, one of the administration’s most recognizable figures in its coronavirus response, threw the ceremonial first pitch to mark Opening Day for the Washington Nationals.

“The key is to get back to normal,” the president said then. “Nobody wants to see this. I think it is really good that baseball is opening. It looks like football is opening. It looks like sports are opening. It’s a tremendous thing psychologically for our country.”

Trump then staged a photo op with former Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, reporters and a group of Little Leaguers on the White House South Lawn.

Trump’s initial announcement drew criticism from Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, who slammed the Yankees for inviting “hatred to your pitcher’s mound.”