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

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said that 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 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 earlier this month.
“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 on Tuesday. “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 attempted assassination of Trump. He has five hits in 33 at-bats this month, including four singles.
But 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 whom he intended to vote for in November, referencing Joe Biden’s recent decision not to seek reelection. Walls 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.”
Walls has spoken about politics in the past. In 2022, he retweeted a post from Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, that was critical of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’s participation in the NCAA championships. Walls added the comment: “Couldn’t agree more” to DeSantis’s post.
Afterwards Walls told the media that he didn’t believe he “did anything wrong … It’s just my opinion. And feel free to disagree, there’s no harm done. I don’t have any hard feelings towards anyone else. And that’s kind of it.”
Walls has made 31 appearances for the Rays this season, and is batting .155, the second lowest average among qualified Tampa Bay players in 2024.