WASHINGTON — President Trump brought a New York sports icon to the White House on Monday for the latest installment of his favorite new presidential pastime: honoring a sports legend who also happens to be a political supporter.

Mr. Trump bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Mariano Rivera, a member of five Yankees championship teams who is widely considered the best relief pitcher in baseball history. Mr. Rivera is also well known for his spirituality as well as his philanthropy in Westchester County, N.Y., where he lives, and in Panama, where he grew up, the son of a fisherman.

In honoring Mr. Rivera, the president emphasized his faith while extolling his “lethal” pitch. “It’s from God, it’s from God,” Mr. Trump said, drawing a nod from Vice President Mike Pence, a fellow evangelical Christian who was seated in the front row.

Aides say Mr. Trump has come to personally relish the camera-friendly awarding of the nation’s highest civilian honor, which the president grants at his own discretion. Monday’s event was the fifth of its kind that Mr. Trump has held this year and the fourth at which he has presented the award to a sports star.