Trump critic to throw out first pitch at World Series game Trump to attend
A day after US president Donald Trump said he plans to attend Game 5 of the World Series, the Washington Nationals announced the ceremonial first pitch at that game will be thrown by chef José Andrés, a vocal critic of Trump.
Andrés, a prominent local restaurant owner and humanitarian, has repeatedly opposed Trump’s immigration policies and his government’s response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. He has also tangled with Trump in court.
Four years ago, Andrés withdrew from plans to open a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel in Washington following Trump’s controversial comments about Mexican immigrants during the presidential campaign.
Trump Old Post Office, which runs the hotel as the landlord under a lease with the General Services Administration, sued Andrés’ companies, Think Food Group and Topo Atrio, in July 2015 for breach of contract and claimed damages in excess of $10m.
“The landlord allowed Mr. Trump to saddle us with the burden of his inflammatory statements, such that operating a high-end Spanish restaurant is no longer viable for us at this location,” Andrés’ companies said in a statement the following month.
Andrés’ companies filed a counterclaim, and the case in DC superior court was settled in 2017.
The Washington Nationals made the announcement Friday. Major League Baseball said the decision on first pitches is made jointly between the host team and MLB.
Washington leads Houston two games to none in the best-of-seven series going into Game 3 on Friday, so a Game 5 on Sunday is not yet assured.
Trump’s scheduled attendance was first confirmed on Tuesday, but he demurred when asked by reporters if he was throwing out the first pitch, describing the body armor he’d be required to wear as unbecoming.
“I don’t know,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “They’re going to have to dress me up in a lot of heavy armor. I’ll look too heavy. I don’t like that.”
On Friday, Andrés tweeted that he was “humbled” to be chosen, but he’s also rooting for a Nats sweep.
“I really hope that by Saturday night all of WASHINGTON will be celebrating,” a championship, he wrote.
Trump would be the first sitting president to attend a World Series game
since George W Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch at New York’s Yankee Stadium before Game 3 in 2001.
Other presidents who attended a
World Series game were Woodrow Wilson (1915), Calvin Coolidge (1924), Herbert Hoover (1929, 1930, 1931),
Franklin Roosevelt (1933, 1936), Dwight Eisenhower (1956), Jimmy Carter (1979) and Ronald Reagan (1983).