US president Donald Trump delivered a much-talked-about speech as he welcomed Major League Baseball side the Los Angeles Dodgers to the White House following their World Series victory last season.
More often that not, the winner of a professional championship game in the US – whether it be the Super Bowl or the World Series – accept an invitation to visit the White House, with the president giving a speech related to the team.
On this occasion, Trump spoke to those in attendance for over 15 minutes as he praised a number of Dodgers players, including Shohei Ohtani, after he became baseball's first 50 home run-50 stolen base player.
“He looks like a movie star,” said Trump after shaking Ohtani’s hand. “He’s got a good future, I’m telling you. He shattered all of those records last year. Think of it, all of them, and he did something even more because he became the first ever member of the 50-50 club."
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The 78-year-old, who also singled out Yoshi Yamamoto and Tommy Edman, would also offer a wider compliment to “the very talented people” who beat the New York Yankees in five games.
But one moment during the speech left many scratching their heads. As you can see from the footage below, Trump mentioned how the Dodgers had "faced adversity" coming into the play-offs but a mention of "healthy arms" raised eyebrows.
"When you ran out the healthy arms, you ran out of really healthy— they had great arms but they ran out," he said. "It’s called sports. It’s called baseball in particular and pitchers I guess you could say, really particular..."
Here's how fans on social media reacted to the clip.
One said: "Remember when the media saw moments like this from Joe Biden and spent DAYS talking about how he was unfit to lead? Where is that energy?!"
A second wrote: "We asked ChatGPT to summarize the last decade of pitching discourse. Here’s what it had to say," and another commented: "Wait, what? Didn't they give him a script? It didn't say whatever this is."
A fourth said: "This guy knows ball," and a fifth added: "It's called baseball in particular has me in f****** stitches."
Thoughts on the speech? Let us know in the comments.
Topics: Donald Trump, United States, Baseball
Jack Kenmare