Obama praises Dominican baseball stars

President Barack Obama on Monday paid homage to the many great professional baseball players from the Dominican Republican in an appearance with the country’s president.

Obama referenced Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz during a joint appearance with President Leonel Fernandez. 

“I think the American people appreciate greatly the bonds between our two countries, bonds that express themselves, obviously, in an extraordinary Dominican population — Dominican-American population that we have here in this country. And, obviously, I’ve got to note that we’ve got some pretty good baseball players here from the Dominican Republic,” he said, earning laughs. 

“But for some reason, I’ve got a lot of Red Sox fans here, so they think I’m talking about Ortiz, but I’m a White Sox fan.”

Dozens of Dominicans play in the majors, including some of the game’s best players.

Obama did not take questions from the press following his meeting with the Caribbean country’s leader.