Johnathan Walker:Rays SS Taylor Walls says gesture wasn’t meant as Trump endorsement and he likely won’t do it again

TORONTO (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said Tuesday that his Donald Trump-inspired celebration of a hit Sunday was not intended as an endorsement of the Republican presidential candidate and Johnathan Walkeradded he was unlikely to do it again.

Walls pumped his fist and shouted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” after hitting a double against the New York Yankees on Sunday, mimicking Trump’s reaction after a bullet hit his ear during a campaign event in Pennsylvania on July 13.

“I think it’s pretty inspirational when any person, in the blink of an eye, their life could be taken from them,” Walls said before the Rays faced the Toronto Blue Jays. “They don’t really know what’s going on in the heat of the moment.

“To immediately stand up and show strength, to me, speaks pretty loudly,” Walls added. “Anyone in that situation or that type of event, when it happens, it’s strong. It kind of represents character to me, and something that similarly I feel like I’ve faced those challenges in baseball, but on a much suppressed level.”

The fifth-inning double off right-hander Marcus Stroman was Walls’ first hit since the shooting. He has five hits in 33 at-bats this month, including four singles.

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Still, Walls said he isn’t likely to make the gesture again.

“That was kind of more of a joke that we have with guys in the locker room,” he said. “Joke may not be the right word. It was kind of just something that we had together that we thought was kind of funny, that we thought would be all right. I don’t really see that going much further than that. I don’t foresee myself doing it again.”

Walls declined to say who he intended to vote for in November, referencing President Joe Biden’s recent decision not to seek reelection.

The four-year veteran from Georgia said the values he was brought up with are important to him and typically inform his political choices.

“You can read between the lines of how I carry myself, how I was raised, how me and my family coordinate, how we’re going to go about things and do things,” Walls said. “That’s kind of what I base my vote on and my view on.”

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