NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump attended the New York Yankees 9-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night, drawing a mixed reaction from a raucous crowd while marking the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Authorities installed security glass for the president outside the upper level box suite belonging to the Steinbrenner family, which owns the Yankees, on the third base side over the Tigers dugout at Yankee Stadium.
Wearing a suit and tie, Trump sat next to Yankees team president Randy Levine and chatted with him throughout the game, though he sat by himself at other times. During the national anthem, the president was shown on the stadium jumbotron and received boos from some in the crowd, cheers from others.
When Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit a homer in the bottom of the first, Trump stood and applauded, as did members of an entourage that included Attorney General Pam Bondi and Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman who is now head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
In the second inning, Trump's attendance was announced and he was shown on the big screen for an extended period while “Hail to the Chief” played. He smiled and pumped his fist. Boos were heard at first, but many in the crowd eventually cheered.
A presidential visit always prompts extra security at sporting events, but things were heightened after conservative activist and close Trump ally Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah on Wednesday. When Trump attended the Sept. 11 observance ceremony at the Pentagon earlier Thursday, authorities moved the ceremony inside as an added precaution.
Trump’s attendance recalled President George W. Bush’s ceremonial first pitch 24 years earlier as the Yankees played the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series — a moment that came to symbolize national resilience after the attacks mere weeks earlier.
Later in Thursday's game, when “YMCA” was played, Trump spelled out the letters with his arms but stayed seated.
The president left shortly after the seventh-inning stretch, which featured the singing of “God Bless America,” as it traditionally does at Yankees games on Sept. 11, in addition to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Trump was shown on the big screen three times in quick succession and the announcer said, “Welcome back, New York's own, the 45th and 47th President” and thanked Trump.
Among the announced crowd in the Bronx of nearly 41,000, that prompted cheers of “USA! USA!” and some chants of Trump's last name as he stood, grinned and pumped his fist in a downward motion. There were also some in the crowd who booed, and they got louder each time Trump was shown.
Before the game started, Trump stopped by the Yankee clubhouse. He shook hands with the players and team staff members and talked about being close for years with late, longtime Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. He noted of his past attending games with Steinbrenner, “We won every time I came.”
“You think that was easy sitting with him for a game? It wasn’t. It was brutal. But he won, and you’re going to win,” the president said.
Just before Trump walked in, relief pitcher Fernando Cruz was the last player in a towel. His teammates urged him to quickly get dressed quick.
Manager Aaron Boone announced prior Trump's arrival that Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe had quietly been playing with a partial labrum tear in his left shoulder. As he greeted him, Trump patted Volpe softly on the shoulder.
With Trump on hand, all stadium entrances featured metal detectors and Secret Service agents, some with sniffer dogs, while New York Police Department helicopters thundered overhead.
Authorities opened the gates three hours before the first pitch, and long lines began forming even before that, though most of the crowd moved into the stadium smoothly. The Yankees said ticketholders were “strongly urged to arrive as early as possible.” The Secret Service also asked fans to consider leaving their bags at home.
Faster-moving lines were a departure from Trump's appearance at the U.S. Open men's final in Queens last weekend. That sparked security lines long enough that some fans didn’t make it to their seats until more than an hour into the match, despite organizers delaying its start by 30 minutes.
The Yankees game is Trump’s eighth major sporting event since returning to the White House in January. He attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Daytona 500, UFC fights in Miami and Newark, New Jersey, the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia, the FIFA Club World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and last weekend's U.S. Open match.
The Yankee Stadium scoreboard featured a large Major League Baseball logo over an American flag and a red, white and blue ribbon under the inscription “September 11, 2001, We Shall Not Forget.”
The large American flag behind the left field bleachers, and the smaller flags for each of baseball’s 30 teams that ring the stadium's upper level, were lowered to half-staff after Trump issued an executive order honoring Kirk.
Trump was born in the New York borough of Queens and, though he's lived in Florida in recent years, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president “remains a New Yorker at heart.” Still, Trump's appearances at baseball games haven't always been welcomed by fans.
During his first term in 2019, Trump tried to make a low-profile appearance as the Washington Nationals hosted the Houston Astros in the World Series, but was booed roundly when shown on the stadium's big screen. There were even chants of “Lock him up!”
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Associated Press writer Larry Fleisher contributed to this report
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