With only a couple of days before the Ohio primary, Donald Trump seemed to pull off a miracle:

Just received from @PeteRose_14.
Thank you Pete! #VoteTrump on
Tuesday Ohio! #Trump2016#MakeAmericaGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/UvP03n7dQq

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2016

Yes, Donald Trump proclaims in Ohio that he just got a baseball and what appears to be an endorsement from #14, Pete “Charlie Hustle” Rose – the all time hit king of Baseball and Cincinnati’s native son. 

Something like this can really sway an election. You take a candidate in a neck to neck race for the Presidential nomination, fighting against an overly popular governor from the state, John Kasich, and you can quickly tilt the scales in your favor.

But what is that endorsement wasn’t true? What if Pete never gave Trump that ball? 

But now, it turns out that what some thought was an endorsement wasn’t — according to Ray Genco, an attorney for Rose — and that Trump’s ball didn’t come from Pete Rose at all. Genco made this absolutely clear in a telephone conversation with The Washington Post late Monday.

“We do not know how Mr. Trump got the ball,” Genco said. “I can’t authenticate the ball from some Twitter picture.” He added: “I can’t speak to how Trump got the ball. Pete didn’t send it. I made that clear.”

Genco’s verbal clarification followed a statement he sent to The Post and other outlets Monday.

“Pete has made a point not to ‘endorse’ any particular presidential candidate,” Genco wrote. “Though he respects everyone who works hard for our country — any outlet that misinterpreted a signed baseball for an endorsement was wrong. Pete did not send any candidate a baseball or a note of endorsement. That said, through my discussions with Pete about this cycle, I’ve learned that he believes that who to vote for is a decision each voter should decide for him or herself. Pete knows and has impressed upon me that, above politics, it’s leadership and teamwork [that] make all the difference. Both the left and right are Baseball fans — and it is those institutions and their people that make America exceptional.”

So not only did Pete not give Trump the ball, but apparently he was so upset over it that he sent his lawyers into immediate action to deny it. Yes, Donald Trump apparently just used a Cincinnati legend to try and steal the primary from the state’s popular Governor. 

Of course Trump did play this very well, in using the clock to his advantage. I’m sure many people will go select Trump at the polling place today, then come home and find out about this, only to go “damn, why did I vote for him”. Not all of them will, but possible enough to affect the outcome of today’s race. 

Donald Trump says he is no politician, and I believe that. Politicians are slimy by nature, and I could never insult slimy politicians by equating them to Donald Trump. That’s just a cruel insult.