Back in his younger days, before he was complaining about bone spurs and burning through his father’s money, Donald Trump claimed that he was so good at baseball that some professional outfits ‘courted him’.

Well, it’s fair to say he no longer has the build of an athlete, and he may want to stay away from baseball games going forward after the rollicking he received from the crowd at Nationals Park in Washington, which is close to the White House.

Game five of the best-of-seven showdown between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros was interrupted by chants of ‘lock him up’ when Trump was shown on the big screen.

Not exactly classy, but I guess you fight fire with fire:

He’s not the first president to be booed, but to really appreciate how the mood soured once Trump appeared on the big screen, you need to hear how the crowd turns:

Trump booed pic.twitter.com/9yFGKYjkga

— Jesse Yomtov (@JesseYomtov) October 28, 2019

In order to avoid further embarrassment, Donnie broke with a few protocols. Here’s the Guardian:

Trump left the game with one inning to go, although it was unclear whether he was unhappy with the reaction of the crowd, the fact that the Nationals were losing or just wanted to beat the traffic.

Every US president since 1910 has thrown out a ceremonial first-pitch at a baseball game during their time in office, but Trump is the first to break with that tradition. Major League Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, said the President had told him he did not want to participate in the ceremony at this year’s World Series “in order to make the fan experience as positive as possible”.

On Friday, Trump had joked his bullet-proof vest would make it hard to throw out the first pitch. “I don’t know. They gotta dress me up in a lot of heavy armour. I’ll look too heavy. I don’t like that,” he said.

An athlete he is not.

For what it’s worth, the Astros clobbered the Nationals 7-1, and now lead the series 3-2. They can clinch the title with victory on their home turf this Tuesday.

[source:guardian]