SEATTLE — It was around the fifth inning when news of former President Donald Trump's guilty verdict reverberated throughout T-Mobile Park as the Seattle Mariners hosted the Houston Astros on May 30.
Many fans learned of the news on their phones.
"We did. ... And the guy next to us," said Martha Whitish. "I looked at my phone, I heard it bleep, and I looked at my sister afterwards and said, 'How does a criminal get to become president?'"
Trump was convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
The Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0.
Mariners fan Jan Henry's story was similar to many in the ballpark.
"I was looking for a message from the person who's going to take us home and I saw the flash of the news and I said, 'Trump is guilty,'" she said while pumping her fist.
Both Whitish and Henry said they support the jury's decision.
However, fan James Kelley does not.
"I believe he will be fine. I think it's all political, in my opinion," he said. "I think he's the greatest president we've ever had."
Regardless of opinions, many fans expressed a certain level of shock and surprise when reality set in that for the first time in American history, a former president was convicted of a felony.
This story includes reporting by the Associated Press.