Donald Trump Declines Invitation to Throw Out Washington Nationals’ First Pitch

Presidents have regularly thrown out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day for Washington’s major league team going back more than a century, but the tradition will not resume this year. The Nationals invited President Trump to do the honors on Monday afternoon, when the team opens its 2017 season at Nationals Park against the Miami Marlins, but the White House declined the invitation on Tuesday, citing a scheduling conflict, according to Nationals spokeswoman Jen Giglio.

“The White House has announced that President Trump will not be joining us on Opening Day due to a scheduling conflict,” Giglio said on Tuesday. “As all of you know, inviting the president is a 100-plus year tradition here in Washington baseball. It began with the Senators back in 1910 and when baseball came back to Washington the Nats continued that tradition.”

Giglio said no decision has been made on who is throwing out the first pitch on Monday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Politico reported that President Trump was “in talks” to throw out the first pitch and that he could also spend an inning in the MASN broadcast booth. The Nationals, however, had declined to comment on the possibility. Trump has some experience: He threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Boston Red Sox hosted the New York Yankees at Fenway Park in 2006.

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