Washington – Inside a crowded East room and with a live group interpreting “We Are the Champions”, President Donald Trump welcomed Los Angeles Dodgers to the White House on Monday morning, making the champions of the world series 2024 repeatedly praised “some of the most incredible performances never seen on the baseball diamond”.
All of the Dodgers Traveling Party seemed to be present for the last planned celebration of this championship, notably Mookie Betts (who refused to attend during Trump’s first mandate in office with the Boston Red Sox) and Kiké Hernández, who criticized Trump in 2017 and urged the president to “show a certain humanity” Hernánme’s Puno. Three rows of Dodgers players, coaches, front office staff and managers held behind Trump because, after a brief preamble to egg prices and references to the “I don’t particularly like” senators, the president congratulated the club’s efforts in his second title in five years.
“The screening report at the start of the series said that Dodgers could gain by focusing on fundamental principles, and that’s exactly what they did,” said Trump before refering to the return of Dodgers five points in the World Series match 5 against the New York Yankees. “You have shown America that it is not individual glory. It is the team that digs deep and sprint to the first base.
“I can tell you that you can plan to be back here. I hope you are going to be back here next year. ”
The group present also included manager Dave Roberts, whose tactics that Trump criticized publicly during the 2018 World Series and who hinted in 2019 that he would refuse an invitation that year if Trump was in office. Roberts was standing to the right of Trump, playing jokes in a fun way with the president.
Trump praised Roberts, whom he called “one of the biggest managers, really, to wear the Dodger Blue”.
He praised Shohei Ohtani, who said “looks like a movie star”. While Trump struck the distinctions that Ohtani made during his first season with the Dodgers, including the first season in the history of baseball with 50 circuits and 50 stolen bases, he took a look at Roberts.
“Is it good?” Trump asked.
“He is only improving,” replied Roberts.
“It’s scary for many people,” said Trump.
The president went from the heroes of October from the Dodgers, from Betts to Tommy Edman to Max Muncy to Freddie Freeman in Blake Treinen.
From Betts, he joked on the agreement that the Dodgers concluded to acquire it in 2020 – “I did not think it was a particularly good job when they did it, and I turned out to be fair” – and its ability to beat the single on the field which brought back to the house the first race for the return of the Dodgers match 5. Freeman’s heroism, in particular by hitting the very first Grand Slam of World Series, was “incredible”.
Trump professed his Yankees Fandom and was aspired to a revenge match.
“Maybe we will see the same thing again,” said Trump.
While several other injured dodgers were present, Freeman, the World Series MVP, was not, with the Dodgers who are aware of making him travel the Cross-Country and inflating the ankle on the right after being placed on the injured list on Thursday.
Four years after the last Dodgers visit to the White House, and under a different administration of their visit in July 2021 with Joe Biden at the office, the owner of the Mark Walter club was graceful when he was invited by Trump to speak.
“We are very happy to participate in the tradition of bringing champions to the White House,” said Walter as part of his prepared declaration, echoing what was the response to the organization’s race for an outcry on the team’s decision to accept Trump’s invitation. The organization’s decision sparked an uproar from a Los Angeles fans base which voted 64.8% in favor of Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris.
Clayton Kershaw, whom Trump called the club’s “heart and soul”, spoke on behalf of the players as he did during the last Dodgers visit to the White House. Dressed in a beige suit with a blue shirt and a gold tie, Kershaw called it “an incredible honor for me”.
“This organization illustrates what it means to come together as a greater end and represent something much greater than them,” said Kershaw. “The altruism and humility that each of these players and employees showed in the past year is really an inspiration. They have constantly played injured positions, changed and took the ball to put the team first. As a spectator for our championship race last year, I was impressed by this group.”
(Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images)
