President Donald Trump is known for making outrageous claims while denying all attempts to back them up with proof.
He claims he's a genius, but he'll fight against the release of his military academy and college transcripts.
He'll say he got rich legally, but won't let anyone see his tax returns. He'll say there's no corruption whatsoever in his administration, yet refuse to let officials comply with congressional subpoenas.
One of Trump's oft-repeated boasts is his prowess in baseball, frequently claiming he could easily have been a major league baseball player.
Like this tweet from 2013.
But unlike his tax returns and his school transcripts, receipts for Trump's baseball skills are now available thanks to Slate.
Long story short: Trump was rough in the diamond.
Stats from Trump's time at the New York Military Academy indicate that he was far from pro-material.
Slate reported:
"Combined, the nine box scores I unearthed give Trump a 4 for 29 batting record in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, with three runs batted in and a single run scored."
"Trump's batting average in those nine games: an underwhelming .138. (I found one additional mention of a hit and another of a hitless game in games that didn't have box scores.)"
Trump claims he was scouted by major league teams, but Keith Law—a former scout for the Toronto Blue Jays—said of the stats:
"There's no chance. You don't hit .138 for some podunk, cold-weather high school playing the worst competition you could possibly imagine."
"You wouldn't even get recruited for Division I baseball programs, let alone by pro teams. That's totally unthinkable."
"It's absolutely laughable. He hit .138—he couldn't fucking hit, that's pretty clear."
It wasn't long before people began mocking Trump on Twitter.
People weren't exactly surprised.
Lying is like breathing to some people.
This is one of the less damaging of Trump's 18,000+ lies, but we can only hope he'll strike out in November.
The book Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth: The President's Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies is available for pre-order here.
