Donald Trump was a gifted defensive first baseman in his younger years, according to his former teammates.
The 78-year-old is an avid sports fan and enjoys partaking in sports, has evidenced by his constant trips to play golf throughout his term. What’s more, Trump also was spotted enjoying Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans and is slated to be among the crowd at the Daytona 500, kicking off the NASCAR season.
That said, the United States President’s love for sports was clear during his time at the New York Military Academy (NYMA). Though his sports statistics during his time at NYMA are unknown, those who were around Trump lauded his skills in baseball and other sports.
“He was just the best, a good athlete, a great athlete,” Ted Levine, a former classmate of Trump’s, told Business Insider in the past. “He could have probably played pro ball as a pitcher. I think he threw 80 mils per hour. I was the catcher. He made my hand black and blue every day.
“Could he play football? Could he play soccer? He could do anything he wanted. He was physically and mentally gifted.”
Levine, when speaking with Slate, maintained that he believed Trump was an exceptional athlete throughout his time at NYMA. That said, it was revealed that Trump and Levine only played on the freshman team together, with the latter not being on the varsity team.
(Image: Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“As good as you could probably be in our high school,” Levine told the outlet in a 10-minute interview. “He was very large, a lot of leverage. Well-gifted, intelligent. And athletic. He probably could have played at some level of professional ball. That’s what I remember. He was probably, in my opinion, the best athlete in the school.”
By his own account, the 78-year-old believed he could have made it to Major League Baseball, if he devoted more time to the sport, though he instead decided to focus more on business ventures as he aged. “I was supposed to be a pro baseball player,” the president said in 2004. “At the New York Military Academy, I was captain of the baseball team. i worked hard like everyone else, but I had good talent.”
Theodore Dobias, one of Trump’s coaches at NYMA, lauded at the president’s apparently skill playing baseball, as he told Gwenda Blair in ‘The Trumps.’
“He caught my eye right away because he was so aggressive and so coachable,” Dobias said in the book, per Slate. “Lots of kids you can talk to until you’re blue in the face and nothing happens, but Donald would react to instructions. If you told him he wasn’t throwing the baseball correctly, he’d do it right the next time.”
However, many of those who knew Trump and played with him during his time at NYMA had different thoughts on his skill. Some did praise the 78-year-old’s skill while others made it clear that he was no standout athlete, especially at a young age despite what others might say.
- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
