Dodgers Visit White House
After winning the World Series, the DODGERS finally got a chance to visit the White House under Donald Trump the celebratory trip to the White House to see the president still isn’t getting old for the Los Angeles Dodgers, even as they’ve won two championships in the past five years. Once under the Biden Administration Manager Dave Roberts, for instance, particularly enjoyed his first peek at the Oval Office, which Dodgers players and staff rolled through, single file after being welcomed by TRUMP.
Earl Heath | Contributing Sports Writer
After winning the World Series, the DODGERS finally got a chance to visit the White House under Donald Trump the celebratory trip to the White House to see the president still isn’t getting old for the Los Angeles Dodgers, even as they’ve won two championships in the past five years. Once under the Biden Administration Manager Dave Roberts, for instance, particularly enjoyed his first peek at the Oval Office, which Dodgers players and staff rolled through, single file after being welcomed by TRUMP.
“I actually got a chance to take a photo in front of the Declaration of Independence,” Roberts said Monday of the national treasure hanging in the Oval Office.
“For myself, who’s a History major, that’s a picture I’m going to cherish for a long time.”With Trump holding steady on controversial tariffs that have roiled global markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Index was down 709 points, or nearly 2%, as the Dodgers’ ceremony concluded around noon. or.
Unprecedented times, indeed.
Trump and his administration’s part in policies that a significant portion of the Dodgers fan base finds odious – and even resulted in the scrubbing of Dodgers trailblazer Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments from a government website – made this trip a loaded proposition.
In 2019, when current Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts and roughly half the 2018 champion Boston Red Sox skipped a trip to Trump’s White House, the Dodgers – save injured star Freddie Freeman – were all present and accounted for.
Even those who had chafed against Trump in the past.
“They don’t agree with the decision to go,” says Dodgers playoff hero Kiké Hernández of disillusioned fans, “but they have the right to have an opinion.”
Hernández had criticized Trump after his treatment of Puerto Rico in his first term. He was among the handful of Dodgers Trump made a point to depart the dais and shake hands during the 25-minute ceremony.
So, too, was Betts, whom Trump lauded for his ability; the president seemed to hold that handshake a beat longer than those with Hernández, Max Muncy, and of course, the great Shohei Ohtani.
“A nice touch,” says Betts. “He kind of recognized a lot of us in that situation and I think it kind of shows it wasn’t just one man that won that 2024 World Series. It was a collective unit.”
In Major League Baseball, it’s been decades since we saw any player both pitch and hit, let alone do so as dominantly as Ohtani has throughout his career so far. His rapid uptick in popularity has assisted with baseball’s overall viewership. On Monday, the Dodgers visited the White House in typical fashion as the defending World Series Champions.
President Donald J. Trump asked Los Angeles Manager Dave Roberts in a light-hearted fashion if Ohtani was as good as his hype.– After his remarks, Trump enjoyed a moment with Ohtani in the Oval Office, calling him “an amazing athlete and person.” Ohtani, perhaps the globe’s most talented and well-known athlete, seemed similarly awestruck in the throes of power.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be visiting the White House, to be able to meet with the highest power in this country,” Ohtani said via club translator Will Ireton after he fell a double short of the cycle in the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss. “I am in this country because of the opportunity I was given.
“So I’m very grateful that I’m here getting to play baseball every day.”
