The Dodgers are going to the White House. Good.
The Los Angeles Times disagrees.
News that the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s defending champions, will visit the White House next week has angered a sports writer for the Los Angeles Times.
Dylan Hernandez suggests that by accepting the invitation, the front office has committed the grossest of errors. He writes:
“The Dodgers have accepted an invitation from President Trump to visit the White House on April 7, the franchise of Jackie Robinson bending the knee to hateful forces similar to the ones they challenged when breaking their sport’s color barrier.
How pathetic. How spineless. More than anything, how hypocritical.”
Hernandez, as he should have done, asked pointed questions of the team’s president about the decision. Among Stan Kasten’s responses to Hernandez:
“Remember, everyone in here grew up wanting to be a world champion and all the things that come with it, and it comes with a champagne toast, silliness in the locker room, a parade, rings, an invitation to the White House. It’s what they all come to associate with being world champions. Everyone wanted to go, and so we did.”
“Everyone wanted to go, and so we did.” You can’t get a stronger endorsement than that.
Hernandez doesn’t see it that way, suggesting that the front office had a moral obligation to stand up to the White House.
“Regardless of the Dodgers’ intentions, contributing to the normalization of Trump’s rhetoric and behavior is political. Pretending Trump is as harmless as the average president is political.”
Hernandez makes a persuasive argument. But he’s wrong. Whether private citizen or public figure, visiting the White House, however much it will be viewed by some as a political act, is an honor. Call me a sap for thinking that, if you wish. We can debate why you’re wrong at another time.
Year after year, one professional and collegiate sports team after another, with some notable exceptions, have celebrated their championship with a few photos and a few jokes with the President of the United States.
That’s how it should be.
Before we go any further, let me put my politics on the table: I didn’t vote for you know who in 2016. Nor in 2020. Nor in 2024. And if he finagles the law to run in 2028, well, you know the answer.
Organizations, professional or college, that choose to visit the White House should be applauded. They ought not be expected or required to say something that indicates support for (or opposition to) the President of the United States. They’re enjoying one of the benefits of being a winner. And they shouldn’t be criticized when they go.
“Everyone wanted to go, and so we did.”
Enough said.