Rays’ Taylor Walls says Trump-inspired celebration was a tribute to ‘strength’

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said his Donald Trump-inspired celebration of a hit on Sunday was not intended as a political endorsement, but he did compliment the former president’s “inspirational” behavior.

Walls clenched his fist and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” after hitting a double against the New York Yankees on Sunday, mimicking Trump’s reaction after he was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

“I find it pretty inspiring when someone can be taken away in the blink of an eye,” Walls said before the Rays took on the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. “They don’t really know what happens in the heat of the moment.”

“Just standing up and showing strength speaks pretty loudly to me,” Walls added. “Anyone in that situation or that type of event, when it happens, it’s strong. It represents a type of character to me, and something that I feel the same way when I’ve had those challenges in baseball, but on a much more suppressed level.”

The fifth-inning double by right-hander Marcus Stroman was Walls’ first hit since the attempted assassination of Trump. He has five hits in 33 plate appearances this month, including four singles.

But Walls said he likely won’t make that gesture again.

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

Walls declined to say who he planned to vote for in November, citing Joe Biden’s recent decision not to seek re-election. Walls said the values ​​he was raised with are important to him and tend to influence his political choices.

“You can read between the lines of how I conduct myself, how I was raised, how me and my family work together, how we approach things and do things,” Walls said. “That’s kind of what I base my voice and my opinion on.”

Walls has talked about politics in the past. In 2022, he retweeted a post by Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who was critical of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’ participation in the NCAA championships. Walls added the following comment: “Couldn’t agree with you more” to DeSantis’ post.

Walls told the media afterward that he didn’t believe he “did anything wrong… It’s just my opinion. And feel free to disagree, no harm was done. I have no hard feelings toward anyone else. And that’s about it.”

Walls has played 31 games for the Rays this season and has a .155 batting average, the second-lowest among Tampa Bay’s qualifying players in 2024.