Trump’s World Series Visit to Test Unifying Charm of Baseball

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s attendance at a World Series baseball game Sunday night will test the unifying power of the Washington Nationals, now on a quest for the capital’s first title in almost a century.

Nationals Park in southeast D.C. will rock with screaming and yelling fans ready to belt out their signature “Nats, Nats, Nats Wooooo” yell for any run scored, and break into shark-jaw gestures if pinch-hitter Gerardo Parra comes to bat. They did it on Friday night, in a 4-1 loss to the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the best-of-seven series.

After the Astros tied the series at two apiece Saturday, Trump is scheduled to oversee the start of the series’ final, evened-up leg in a city where only 4% of the population backed him for president.

Comedian Matt Bergman, who has appeared on cable channel AXS TV, joked about the fans’ possible reactions in a tweet on Saturday.

Red-clad, roaring crowds have watched as the Nationals purged the frustration fueled by a World Series defeat for the Washington team in 1933, the departure of two teams for other cities and four losses this decade in post-season series. The team’s race to the championship has spurred frequent political rivals to unite behind the same nonpolitical goal: a Series title for the nation’s capital.

Trump is expected to arrive at the stadium three miles dfrom the White House after the Astros come to bat, about 8:07 p.m. He’ll miss pregame festivities, including the National Anthem, and leave before the last pitch probably three hours later.

He won’t toss the ceremonial first pitch, a century-old baseball tradition. Instead, the team gave the honor to restaurateur Jose Andres, who dropped plans to open a restaurant in Trump’s Washington hotel after candidate Trump called Mexican immigrants “rapists.”

Andres may draw the loudest cheers for his efforts that fed Puerto Rican hurricane victims, Houston flood survivors, California fire refugees and federal workers denied a paycheck during a partial government shutdown in January. On Saturday, he tweeted that he was practicing.

Trump, who has tossed the first pitch at past major league games, hasn’t performed the role since becoming president, joining William Howard Taft as the only chief executives to avoid the duty.

On Thursday, Trump seemed averse to a pitch. “They’re going to have to dress me up in a lot of heavy armor,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’ll look too heavy. I don’t like that.”

The Nationals’ principal owner, developer Mark Lerner, told the Washington Post that Trump has “every right” to attend Sunday’s game.

Baby Shark

Inside the stadium, Trump will see all manner of team jerseys and more than a few fans in shark costumes. Parra, who joined the team in May as a losing record turned into a winning pace, has used the “Baby Shark” childrens’ song as his walkup music as a nod to his 2-year-old daughter, Aaliyah.

Rain gear is unlikely to be needed. Early showers were expected to taper off just after noon Sunday.

Nats fans include Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who has shared season tickets with a group of friends and makes a point of going to every hometown postseason game. The Trump appointee told senators during his confirmation process last year that he had attended all 11 postseason games played to that point.

In September, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a Barack Obama appointee, threw out the ceremonial first pitch as part of the team’s recognition of Hispanic Heritage Day.

As the Nats closed in on the National League crown and a trip to the World Series, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer tweeted congratulations to “my Washington Nationals” and Fox News’s Bret Baier chimed in on Twitter to root for a series sweep.

--With assistance from Todd Shields and Jennifer Jacobs.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Geimann in Washington at sgeimann@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, Tony Czuczka

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