Oscar Garza is director of the Specialized Journalism / Arts & Culture graduate program at the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Journalism. He has been a culture writer and editor at KPCC/LAist, Tu Ciudad magazine and the Los Angeles Times.
I’m a huge baseball fan and have lived in L.A. since 1990, so you’d think that I bleed blue by now. But when asked if I’m a Dodgers fan, I have to confess that my team is the archrival San Francisco Giants. Odd for someone who grew up in Texas, but the great Willie Mays was my boyhood hero.
The Dodgers have always given me reasons to not embrace them. From the tenure of blowhard manager Tommy Lasorda to today’s ownership that has assembled the best team money can buy, it’s always been something.
And now, to celebrate their consecutive World Series championships, the Dodgers are once again scheduled to visit the White House to be honored by President Trump on July 23.
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There’s every indication the Dodgers as an organization that includes owners, executives and countless others with their own political leanings and economic interests – and not necessarily the players themselves – made the decision to accept the invitation.
Owners of professional sports franchises tend to be a conservative lot, and you never know when your varied financial interests can benefit from an administration’s economic policies. (Guggenheim Partners, the investment firm run by the Dodgers’ controlling owner Mark Walter, recently sold its interest in a private prison company that houses immigration detainees.)
But the franchise that backed Jackie Robinson and his integration of baseball, and that solidified its ongoing popularity with the Mexican American community during Fernandomania, is doubling down on the huge mistake it made with last year’s visit to the White House.
Paul Thornton
I’m not going to detail the countless ways that the Trump administration has harmed Black and Latino communities. If you know, you know — and I’m not here to convert any MAGA true believers either. Trump didn’t create the political and cultural divide in this country, but he has done more than anyone to deepen its fissures.
So why are the Dodgers visiting the White House? Manager Dave Roberts told the Los Angeles Times: “I’m not a politician and I’m doing something teams have done for decades and so that’s where I stand. I’m a baseball coach, that’s what I do.”
But where does it say that you have to blindly follow tradition? Other sports franchises have turned down White House invites, most notably the NBA’s Golden State Warriors in 2017, whose coach Steve Kerr has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration.
More recently, the Oklahoma City Thunder, last year’s NBA champions, declined to visit with the Trump White House. New York Knicks owner (and Trump pal) James Dolan has already accepted a White House invite, but star point guard Jalen Brunson has said it’s uncertain if the players will attend to celebrate this year’s championship. And that puts a spotlight on the difference between American sports leagues. The rosters of NBA teams are dominated by Black Americans, and though most of them are rich, just as many grew up poor or in families of modest means, and they are quite aware of Trump’s effect on their community.
Karin Klein
In contrast, most MLB players are white, and its Black players are primarily from Latin America. The percentage of Black Americans on MLB rosters has been steadily declining for decades. They don’t hold the collective power that NBA players do.
Roberts went on to say that he expects most players to visit the White House, but he noted that it’s “an individual choice.” While Roberts leans on tradition to justify the White House visit, he ignores the fact that he, the son of a Black father and a Japanese/Okinawan mother, has also made a choice — and it’s an unfortunate one.
One Dodger who will gladly visit is pitcher Blake Treinen, who wrote a message on his cap to honor Charlie Kirk after the Turning Point founder was fatally shot.
But at least two Dodgers, Kike Hernandez, who is Puerto Rican, and Mookie Betts, the only Black American on the active roster, won’t make the visit. Both cited non-political reasons for their decisions. But I’ll count those as victories. Purists like to say that baseball should stay between the lines. In the case of Kike and Mookie, I’m going to read between them.
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