On Saturday night, after accepting the Most Valuable Player award at the 96th annual New York Baseball Writers’ Association of America dinner, Boston Red Sox center fielder Mookie Betts said he would not join other members of his team when they visit the White House on May 9. Betts told The Boston Globe, “I won’t be going there. I decided not to.”
The Red Sox were initially scheduled to visit the White House on February 15 but the government shutdown forced the visit to be rescheduled to May, when Boston has a three-game series at Camden Yards in Baltimore against the Baltimore Orioles.
Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers has already said he would not visit the White House, according to the Globe; pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez is leaning against it, and shortstop Xander Bogaerts and infielder Eduardo Nunez have not decided whether they will or won’t. The Globe reported that Red Sox manager Alex Cora appears unlikely to attend. Last September, when President Trump said that Democrats had inflated the number of people who died after Hurricane Maria hit the island, Cora commented that Trump’s comments were “disrespectful” to Puerto Rico, although he added that he “hate[s] that people that make it a political issue. This is about human beings.”
Red Sox players who have said they would attend include Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Brock Holt, Brian Johnson, Mitch Moreland, Steve Pearce, Rick Porcello, Chris Sale, and Blake Swihart.
Other championship teams have had members refusing to visit Trump’s White House; many members of the New England Patriots skipped the trip in 2017. After the Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship in 2017, several Warriors said they would not visit if they were invited, including Stephen Curry. Before the team decided what they would do, President Trump tweeted, “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!”
The Warriors then tweeted:
Curry stated, “It’s kind of funny that that tweet (Trump’s) was sent out before we had a chance to get together as a team. It is what it is. My stance is the same [as] yesterday. I’m trying to cement that even further about how things in our country have gone, especially with representing us.”
That, in turn, prompted NBA star LeBron James to tweet at Trump. “U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!”
The NBA championship team has usually visited the White House the next season when they play the Washington Wizards in Washington D.C. After the Warriors won in 2017, they did not visit the White House in 2018, and then after winning the title again in 2018, instead of visiting the White House when they played in Washington D.C. this week, the Warriors visited former president Barack Obama at his Washington office.
The shoe was on the other foot in 2011, when Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas refused to visit the White House to meet with President Obama, explaining, “I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties and Property of the People.” As Heat Street reported, the leftist media ripped Thomas:
Joe McDonald of ESPN wrote “Tim Thomas put himself above [the team] … When the president of the United States invites you and all your teammates to the White House to honor your Stanley Cup championship, you go and represent the team. On Monday, Thomas instead chose to represent himself.”
James Hardie from Bleacher Report wrote: “If Thomas was a real man, he would have gone to the Boston Bruins management and ownership, returned the money from his contract and quit the balance of it by retiring — so he could exercise his rights as a free citizen.”
Over at Sports Illustrated, Stu Hackel wrote, “[…]Tim Thomas decided to exploit a non-political event to expose his personal political views.”
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