Trump's History With Baseball Is As Spotty As His Bronzer

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Donald Trump seems to have an obsession with bronzer, and he's not always so great with putting it on. It's perhaps equally matched by his obsession with bragging about himself and his accomplishments, even when those brags don't have all that much basis in reality. He's said that he was the top of his class in school; however, one of Trump's former professors reportedly said that he wasn't really that great of a student. So we're not all that surprised that Trump has made claims about his prowess as a baseball player that might not be all that accurate, either.

Not only has his own background as a baseball player come under suspicion, but he's also found himself at the center of some cringeworthy moments around baseball over the years. Whether it was awkwardly singing at a game or getting booed at one,Trump has quite the relationship with America's favorite pastime.

Let's not forget the time that he pitched a fit over a Major League Baseball (MLB) decision to move a game. In 2021, the MLB announced that they were going to be moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta  after Georgia passed what was seen by some as unreasonably restrictive voter ID law. In response, Trump issued a statement via his Save America PAC that read in part: "Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!," according to The Hill. Any boycott by Trump himself didn't last long, however; he attended a World Series game in Atlanta six months after he lashed out at the league.

Donald Trump loved baseball so much as a kid that he wrote a poem about it that made the yearbook. It read: "I like to hear the crowd give cheers, so loud and noisy to my ears. When the score is 5-5, I feel like I could cry. And when they get another run, I feel like I could die. Then the catcher makes an error, not a bit like Yogi Berra. The game is over and we say tomorrow is another day," via The Washington Post.

We have to admit, for a 12-year-old, it's not too bad. We do think it's telling that the first line is about cheering crowds; if there's one thing that Trump likes, it's crowds of people cheering for him. And who doesn't? Sounds like his love of political rallies may have had its roots in playing baseball.

There's another of Trump's loves that may have gotten its start with baseball. In the 2005 book "The Games Do Count: America's Best and Brightest on the Power of Sports" by Brian Kilmeade, he shared: "I got the winning home run in a game between our academy and Cornwall High School. It was in 1964 and it was in a little local paper. It simply said, TRUMP HOMERS TO WIN THE GAME. I just loved it and I will never forget it. It was better than actually hitting the home run." This may have started Trump's long-time focus on getting his name in the media. Though apparently, that headline may not have actually happened. According to Slate, there aren't any records of that headline, nor a game against that team during that year.

One of the things you may have never known about Trump is that he played baseball in high school. But according to the man himself, he wasn't just a player, he was good enough to be a professional. Trump was quoted in Brian Kilmeade's book as saying: "I was supposed to be a pro baseball player. At the New York Military Academy, I was captain of the baseball team. I worked hard like everyone else, but I had good talent."

This was supported by one of his New York Military Academy teammates, who told Business Insider in 2015: "He was just the best, a good athlete, a great athlete. He could have probably played pro ball as a pitcher." Ted Dobias, his coach at the academy, did tell the Daily Mail Online that Trump had been scouted by the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies.

However, not all of his former teammates backed up this claim and can't recall any pro scouts at their small school. And some former recruiters who just couldn't see why there would be interest in Trump. Keith Vanderlip, who was a year ahead of Trump and also played on the baseball team, told Slate: "I heard him say he could have played Major League Baseball. But he wasn't that good." Perhaps it's all in the eye of the beholder? It does seem to be those who were close to Trump after his time in school that corroborate his baseball pro potential.

That wasn't the only time that Donald Trump bragged about his apparent skill at baseball. In 2013, he posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), "I played football and baseball, sorry, but said to be the best player in N.Y. State — ask coach Ted Dobias — said best he ever coached." Dobias did say that Trump "was very coachable," via NPR. However, calling the best baseball player in the state? Even one of his former teammates doubted that one.

Trump's X post resurfaced during Donald's presidency with plenty of people responding in disbelief. One person said, "Omg, I honestly thought this was a parody account. Just when I think this wild ride has hit the basement. you surprise me every time." Another commented, "Literally 0% chance this is true. So, y'know, par for the course!"

Other people questioned that if Donald was such a fantastic baseball player, how was it that he got four medical deferments for the Vietnam War after he finished college? Trump said that he had bone spurs and was therefore unable to serve. Daughters of a podiatrist from Queens said their father had told them that he wrote the doctor's note saying Donald had the condition and couldn't join the army as a favor to Donald's father, Fred Trump, per the New York Times. Granted, bone spurs can develop over years, and the first deferment was in 1968, four years after Donald graduated from the New York Military Academy.

With all of Donald Trump's professed baseball skills, it seems strange that he never threw out the first pitch during his time as president. It had long been a tradition, dating back to William Howard Taft, for the president to throw a ceremonial pitch at the start of the Washington baseball team's first home game. Back in 2021, the Senate Republicans X page shared a video of Trump throwing out a first pitch, but it seemed to be from a minor league game back in 2004 in New Jersey. He once said that he'd be throwing the first pitch for the New York Yankees in August 2020; this was shortly after Dr. Anthony Fauci did the so at a game between the Yankees and the Washington Nationals. Donald hadn't been invited to do so, and he never actually followed through on his claim.

It may have been that Donald knew the kind of reception that he might get from the hometown crowd. Donald and Melania Trump attended Game 5 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals in 2019, and he didn't get the adulation that he is used to at his campaign rallies. Instead of being greeted with cheers, when he and Melania were featured on the big screen at the game, he was met with boos instead. People also started to chant, "Lock him up!" as a reference to the frequent Trump chant from his first campaign in relation to Hillary Clinton. At one point, there was a large banner that read "veterans for impeachment" displayed behind home plate; it seems unlikely that Donald would have missed seeing that.

Donald did actually throw out the first pitch at a game in 2000 at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Cubs and the White Sox. He and Melania Trump (then Melania Knauss) also sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch, as seen in a video posted to Instagram. It's a Chicago tradition that dates back to the 1970s, and we have to hand it to them, the couple seemed to be doing their best. Unfortunately, their best was not so good. This was around the time when Donald and Melania first started dating, and she still stayed with him, even after that performance. Granted, Trump has never said that he was a good singer the way that he's claimed he was an amazing baseball player, but it's quite the rendition.

The assumption is that this wasn't a spur of the moment request for Donald to sing, as guests had been asked to sing the song for the crowds for years. So, it's odd that Donald didn't seem to know the words, apparently relying on a cheat sheet in front of him.

Even though it happened years ago, Stephen Colbert brought up the clip on during a 2017 monologue for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. " Colbert joked, "Are we sure that's not the tape that Putin is blackmailing him with?" Even some of Donald's fans weren't impressed. As the footage resurfaced online, one person wrote on X: "Look, I draw the line. I love my President but stop that....just no." Another person said: "I've never seen him get red with embarrassment before. This is a unique video."