“Looking forward to being at the World Series in Atlanta tonight,” Trump said in a statement Saturday, adding that he and former first lady Melania “are looking forward to a wonderful evening watching two great teams!”
He thanked MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and New York Yankees’ president Randy Levine for the invite.
Atlanta Braves CEO Terry McGuirk told USA Today on Wednesday that Trump will not be sitting with team or MLB officials and that the Braves will give Trump his own suite.
“He called MLB and wanted to come to the game,” McGuirk told the paper. “We were very surprised. Of course, we said yes.”
CNN previously reported Wednesday that Trump was planning on attending Game 4, according to a person close to Trump who told CNN.
The Braves won 2-0 in Game 3 on Friday, putting them at a 2-1 advantage over the Astros in the best-of-seven series.
The former Republican president last year had called for a boycott of baseball after MLB decided in April to move its All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response to Georgia’s restrictive voting laws.
The last baseball game Trump attended was in 2019 at Nationals Park in Washington, DC, when the Nationals were hosting the Astros in Game 5. The crowd booed and broke into chants of “lock him up” when Trump was shown on the park’s video screen during a salute to veterans.
His 2020 presidential campaign also made a seven-figure ad buy during the final game of the 2019 World Series.
Trump attended several sporting events during his time as president and received much warmer receptions from the crowds at NASCAR’s Daytona 500, college football games in deep red states of Alabama and Louisiana, and when he did the coin toss at the 119th annual Army-Navy game.
Since leaving office, Trump attended a UFC fight card in July and provided commentary on a boxing match on September 11.
