Rays’ Taylor Walls says gesture was not intended as support for Trump
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said the gesture he made Sunday, mimicking Donald Trump’s reaction after an assassination attempt, was not intended as a show of support for the former president, according to multiple sources.
Walls said Tuesday that the gesture was “more of a joke we make with guys in the locker room,” he said. the Associated Press.
“Joke might not be the right word,” Walls continued, according to AP. “It was just something we had together that we thought was funny, that we thought would work out. I don’t see it going much further than that. I don’t see myself doing it again.”
On Sunday, after hitting a double in a win over the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Walls raised a fist and muttered “fight, fight,” a reference to Trump’s gesture moments after a bullet hit his ear during a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania.
Taylor Walls did the Trump “Fight! Fight!” after this double photo.twitter.com/8K5ovTEIQh
— Talking Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 21, 2024
“Standing up and showing strength right away speaks pretty loudly to me,” Walls said of Trump’s response, according to the AP. “Anyone in that situation or that type of event, when it happens, it’s strong. It represents to me a type of character, and something that, like me, feels like I’ve had those challenges in baseball, but on a much (more) suppressed level.”
Walls isn’t the only MLB player raising questions over an alleged reference to the shooting.
St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter Matt Carpenter recently responded to online speculation about his team’s celebration on Sunday, when one online outlet compared it to footage from the moments after the attempted assassination of the Republican presidential candidate. Carpenter repeatedly stated that the gestures were not a political statement.
Clips of Alec Burleson’s home run brawl and the subsequent celebration in the dugout appeared to show Burleson and many of his teammates cupping their ears with one hand while raising their opposite fists in the air. Lars Nootbaar also made the gesture as he rounded the bases after his own home run an inning later.
Carpenter denied any political motivation, explaining that the celebration was intended as an “inside joke” with Burleson, with the cupped hand and raised arm intended to mimic the movements of a DJ.
“Burleson is a former college rapper,” Carpenter said. “He carried us on the record. (The celebration) is the furthest thing from a political statement.”
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(Photo: Mike Carlson/Getty)
