Big-game players step up when the pressure is most intense. And the New York Yankees have had a bunch of them throughout their history. The latest in line of greats, Aaron Judge, lit the spark as the Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 9-3, after previously suffering two embarrassing blowouts against them. And the Yankees had a special fan in the stands, who witnessed this brilliant display first-hand: President Donald Trump.

Yes, the POTUS was in the house, and the president sat in George Steinbrenner’s old box alongside Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and team president Randy Levine. On the solemn 24th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, President Donald Trump stood and applauded after watching Aaron Judge launch a 413-foot solo home run in the first innings that tied him with the legendary Joe DiMaggio with 361 home runs for fourth on the Yankees’ all-time home runs list.

But another memorable moment happened long before the first pitch was even thrown. Before the game, a video surfaced where the Instagram account @thebsblr shared the moment, captured from a Bronx Bomber News post. It showed the POTUS meeting the 6-foot-7 Yankees captain and also cracked a joke about his height. “I wish he was a little bit bigger, you know?” Trump joked. “A little bit bigger. What a player. What a player. So if you have that much muscle, you have to hit the ball far, right? Fantastic player. Unbelievable player.” Judge smiled and replied, “Thank you. It’s good to meet you, sir. Pleasure. Try to. I appreciate it. I appreciate that. Thank you.”

The president’s clubhouse tour was filled with personal touches, where he fondly recalled attending games with the late, legendary owner George Steinbrenner. “We won every time I came,” Trump said, predicting a victory. “You think that was easy sitting with him for a game? It wasn’t. It was brutal. But he won, and you’re going to win.”

And the president also  addressed the group and predicted that the Yankees would “make the [playoffs]” and that they would “go all the way.” He even shared a light moment, like gently patting shortstop Anthony Volpe, who was playing with a torn labrum. This pre-game tour set the stage for an evening filled with..

Cheers, Boos, and Heightened Alert

The stadium officially welcomed the President in the second inning when the big Jumbotron screen showed him smiling and pumping his fist as “Hail to the Chief” played. The crowd’s reaction was a mix of boos and cheers. This visit always meant extra security, especially in the light of a recent assassination of activist Charlie Kirk, a close ally of the President, just the day prior in Utah.

This heightened sense of alert drew comparisons to President George W. Bush’s ceremonial first pitch moment in the 2001 World Series after the 9/11 attacks. This was the POTUS’s second visit to a major sports event in September after also making an appearance at the U.S. Open men’s final at Flushing Meadows last weekend and his eighth since his return to the White House in January.

And in between, the game had to be played, and in the third inning, Judge crushed another homer, his 46th of the season. And the night concluded with the Yankees’ 9-3 win that gave them some breathing room in the competitive AL East division, sitting just 3 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays with an 81-65 record.