Trump says he can't throw the first pitch at a Yankees game because he's too busy

• President Donald Trump on Sunday said he won't be throwing the ceremonial first pitch for the New York Yankees at an August 15 game.
• Trump announced last week that he was invited by Yankees President Randy Levine to throw out the first pitch at the game against the Boston Red Sox.
• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed the Yankees' invitation, writing on Twitter that the team had "aligned with hatred."

President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he won't be throwing the first pitch at Yankee Stadium after all, following controversy over his planned appearance at the August 15 game against the Boston Red Sox.

On Twitter, Trump claimed that he was too busy to attend, citing his "strong focus" on the novel coronavirus pandemic — "Vaccines, our economy, and much else."

"We will make it later in the season!" he wrote.

—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2020

Trump said during a July 23 event with former Yankee and Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera that he was invited to throw out the pitch. The announcement came the same day that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, threw out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game.

Trump said he was invited for the pitch by Yankees President Randy Levine, an attorney who previously served as deputy mayor under the president's top lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, NBC New York reported.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed the invitation, writing on Twitter that the Yankees had "aligned with hatred." He noted that, on opening day, each of the team's players kneeled along the baseline to honor the Black Lives Matter movement.

"After CONDEMNING racism, the next step isn't inviting it to your pitcher's mound," de Blasio wrote. "To the players that knelt for the BLM movement, we applaud you."

"To the execs that have aligned with hatred, you are on the wrong side of history and morality," de Blasio added.

During the Yankees' Saturday game against the Nationals, outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks kneeled during the national anthem. Stanton said after the game the move was "to show that we're still in this fight," as "we have to keep the movement moving forward," USA Today reported.

Trump has not yet thrown out a first pitch as president, a tradition that began with President William Howard Taft in 1910 at Washington, DC's Griffith Stadium.