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Johnny Damon is going to bat for Donald Trump … saying toward the end of his baseball career — he and his teammates were straight-up scared to go out on the town in Baltimore.
Of course, Trump has found himself in hot water this week for comments he’s made about the Maryland city — ones in which he called Baltimore a “rodent-infested mess.”
Damon says he thinks Trump’s choices of words were a little harsh … but he tells TMZ Sports he agrees with 45 — saying back when he played in the MLB, he didn’t love hitting the road there.
“He’s not wrong,” Damon says … “Baltimore was one of the best places to visit when I broke into the league in ’95. And, at the end, we didn’t really, like, enjoy going back.”
Damon — who’s been an outspoken Trump supporter for years — added, “Towards the end, it started getting a little scarier.”
Johnny says Trump’s comments will actually HELP the city .. telling us he thinks the criticism should lead to a change in the area.
“I think Baltimore is a great town, and this is raising awareness and hopefully they can go in and spend the hard tax-paying dollars to actually make a difference.”
For his part, Trump had a similar sentiment on the situation, saying at the White House earlier this week, “Those people are living in hell in Baltimore. They’re largely African-American — you have a large African-American population — and they really appreciate what I’m doing and they’ve let me know it.”
Several politicians have lashed out at Trump for the comments — with Baltimore mayor Bernard Young saying, “It’s completely unacceptable for the political leader of our country to denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore.”