Taylor Walls joins political spotlight after apparent Trump-style gesture

NEW YORK — Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said he was just sharing an “inside joke” celebration with his teammates Sunday when he thrust himself into the political world and viral internet fame.

During Sunday’s win over the Yankees, Walls got to second base on a double and did a Donald Trump-inspired gesture as he looked to the Rays dugout, pumping his fist and saying “fight, fight.” That was similar to what the former president and current Republican nominee did after being injured in an assassination attempt on July 13 during a rally in Pennsylvania.

A video of Walls’ gesture posted to the X social media platform had nearly 15 million views by late Monday afternoon, and extensive comments on all sides of the political and sports spectrum.

Walls said after Monday’s game that he was not making a political statement but acknowledging the inspiration Trump provided in how he responded to the shooting, and that given the unexpected amount of attention it drew he “probably won’t” do it again.

“It was more so the symbolism of ‘get knocked down, get back up, keep fighting, keep grinding’ and kind of just grit (and) determination. That’s kind of more so what it was. It wasn’t necessarily directed at Trump politically, ...” Walls said. “More so the inspirational side of someone (who) almost just got their life taken away from them and their first instinct was to stand up and show strength.”

Walls, a 28-year-old Georgia native who attended Florida State, is believed to be the first major-leaguer to publicly show support for Trump in that fashion. The Cardinals did a recent dugout celebration that some observers thought was related to Trump but players said it was not.

Walls said he had talked and joked with teammates about how Trump responded to the shooting, but did not script a plan to incorporate it into his onfield gestures.

“It was definitely not something I just thought, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to do this.’ That definitely was not what it was. It was more of a joke that just ran around with me and the guys in the clubhouse the day before, the two days before (Sunday’s game, which was the first in which he got a hit since the shooting),” said Walls, who is hitting .160.

“It was one of those things that we were in the moment. I got on (base) there. And I saw the guys just laughing, cracking up, so I knew they were anticipating me to do it and I was like, ‘Alright, I’ve got to give it to them now.’ And that was kind of it. ... It was pretty much just excitement from first of all getting on second base, and then the guys kind of rooting me on. So it was just kind of instinctive.”

He said he was frustrated that the posted video clip, taken from the game broadcast, was somewhat misleading as it showed him to be serious when he was laughing afterward and said some of his teammates were doing so also.

“Immediately after I was smiling because it was a joke, and they didn’t see that side of it,” he said. “So I feel like if that side of it was shown people would have kind of maybe not taken it so out of context.”

Though Walls has had a previous episode with political controversy, he said he “absolutely” did not anticipate the Trump gesture to become such a big deal and a national story.

In March 2022, Walls posted on Twitter that he “couldn’t agree more” with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ strongly-worded stance against allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports. Walls said later he didn’t feel he “did anything wrong” in giving his opinion and didn’t “mean any disrespect to anybody at all.”

After seeing some of the initial reaction Sunday night he turned off his phone, but said he enjoyed that some was supportive.

“I’ve been in this territory before; I know what comes with it,” Walls said. “So to be honest, it was more a lot of surprising positivity, rather than the last time that this happened. So it was actually good to see that people have my back.”

Walls said he had not heard from Trump nor his representatives, but “I think that would be pretty cool, to be honest.”

While declining to say who he would vote for in November, Walls said “You can take it how you see it. I don’t think it’s a secret.”

Team officials declined comment, beyond manager Kevin Cash saying, “I was happy he hit a double.”

Whether a player should do so during a game — much less on the televised stage of standing on second base at Yankee Stadium — became a subject of conversation.

“I think it just depends player to player‚” veteran starter Zach Eflin said. “I believe we live in a world where everyone gets to express their opinion no matter who you are, and I think that’s the beautiful thing about free speech.

“I can’t control what other people do. You can make your own opinions and your own assumptions, but at the end of the day we love the guys in here (in the clubhouse). Whether it be that or people dancing on the field, I feel like I’ve seen it kind of all here. So I feel like everything is accepted here.”

Reliever Colin Poche had a similar take.

“I think everything has a time and place,” he said. “I don’t know what he did necessarily made a political statement one way or the other. Obviously it’s something Trump did. I don’t know, I think it’s more of a humorous thing like someone gets shot at and has, I guess, the nerve to do what he did, stick his fist up and yell fight.

“Me personally, I don’t look too much into it as far as making a political statement either way. I think guys have their right to express whatever views they have. And hopefully as a sport we can be welcoming of everyone and whatever views they have as well. I think everyone can see it through their own lenses.”

Closer Pete Fairbanks said, simply: “Sports is the great unifier.”

Poche added that he hopes it does not become too big of a controversy. “Hopefully people see it as light and fun and not a divisive thing. See it with some humor and then somebody will do something stupid next week and we’ll move on.”

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