WASHINGTON — The Dodgers’ decision to accept an invitation from President Donald Trump to visit the White House might have divided their fans. But there were no mixed feelings among team members.
“I think we all felt really good about it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Monday’s event at the White House. “We wanted to go there to, again, recognize our ’24 team. There’s a lot of people in our organization that were there, that have different backgrounds, different races, genders and all that stuff. And we were all there. And I thought it was a really good experience.”
More than anyone on the team, Mookie Betts felt the pressure of making a statement by either attending or not attending the event. He had done both – skipping the White House visit with the Boston Red Sox during Trump’s first term in 2019 but attending during President Joe Biden’s term with the Dodgers in 2021.
He announced on Friday that he would be attending as a show of solidarity with his team. He described Monday’s event in simple terms.
“It was fun,” he said. “Went to the White House, saw the president. That was it.”
Asked to compare the visit in 2021 and this year, he said, “I’m different. I’ve grown. Learned to appreciate things differently.”
“As long as I’m there with the boys who were there with me. Celebrate this accomplishment,” he said Monday. “It was good.”
Not all of the Dodgers were able to participate in Monday’s event. First baseman Freddie Freeman went on the injured list after he re-injured his ankle last weekend and did not make the East Coast trip with the Dodgers.
Freeman was supposed to speak on behalf of the team at the event. When he didn’t make the trip, veteran pitcher Clayton Kershaw was tapped to replace him. Kershaw spoke for the team in 2021 as well.
This time, he referred to himself as “a spectator for our championship run” due to injury in 2024 and praised the team for its “selflessness and humility” on the way to the championship in a speech he said he wrote on the plane to Washington (with some help from an “editor” – his wife, Ellen).
“It’s always an honor. I don’t ever want to say no to those types of opportunities,” Kershaw said later.
“The White House is an incredible honor to get to go see, regardless of who’s in office. We went in 2021, we went this time. I know there’s been a lot of stuff about, should the Dodgers go, all this stuff, but at the end of the day, getting to go to the White House, getting to see the Oval Office, getting to meet the President of the United States, that’s stuff that you can’t lose sight of no matter what you believe. I was super honored to get to go today. It was an incredible opportunity. I’m glad we got to be part of it.”
During his remarks, Trump predicted a return trip for the Dodgers next year after another championship. Roberts was willing to endorse that sentiment.
“I hope we get to do it again next year and go to the White House and celebrate a previous championship,” he said. “Yeah, it was great.”
