Donald Trump Namedrops “Big Strong Guy” Ryan Klesko During Mariano Rivera Ceremony

Donald Trump’s speech this afternoon was relatively lucid. He stayed on topic, and he even used a series of facts to prove his point, which was that Mariano Rivera was the greatest baseball pitcher of all time. It wasn’t quite diplomacy, but this 15-minute speech about baseball might have been the least embarrassing point in the Trump presidency. The strange part was when he name-dropped Ryan Klesko, the “big, powerful guy.”

Klesko came up when Trump was describing Game 4 of the 1999 World Series, when Rivera broke the Braves first baseman’s bat three times. Please watch this clip of Trump geeking out over a beefy boy.

Ryan Klesko played 16 seasons in the majors, hitting 278 homers and slugging an even .500 for his career. Trump is right: He is a big, strong, powerful guy. He knew him well … as a player. It hurts to say it, but today Donald Trump remembered a guy.

Besides the impromptu appreciation of Klesko, the other bizarre moment of the afternoon was the duo of Trump and Rivera walking out to “Enter Sandman.”

Trump opens with a tale that Mariano Rivera was known as “The Sandman” because he put batters to sleep, but Rivera has that nickname because of his entrance music. He didn’t even choose the song. In fact, when Rivera first started coming out to it, the New York Daily News noted that David Wells would probably always be the pitcher Yankees fans associated most with Metallica. (Wells liked to play Metallica and similar bands before his starts.)

So, you know, Trump got something a little wrong. A first, I’m sure!