Trump singled out several Dodgers for their achievements last season, praising Ohtani for becoming baseball's first 50 home run-50 stolen base player, Japanese pitcher Yoshi Yamamoto and NL Championship Series MVP Tommy Edman.
Trump praised Betts for his play — and took a dig at the Boston Red Sox for trading him to the Dodgers — and they shook hands at the ceremony.
Betts, the star outfielder at the time for the 2018 champion Boston Red Sox, did not make that team's trip to the White House the next year during Trump's first term. Betts was on the Dodgers when they won the World Series in 2020 and attended the celebration the following year under President Joe Biden.
The 32-year-old Betts is the lone Black player on the Dodgers who returned from last season’s World Series team.
“Nobody else in this clubhouse has to go through a decision like this except me,” Betts said over the weekend of his decision. “That’s what makes it tough. But it is what it is. I’m not trying to make this political by any means at all. All it is is just me being with my team to celebrate something. It’s a privilege to get an invitation like this. I just want to be there with them.”
Manager Dave Roberts had called the invitation a huge honor that each World Series champion gets to experience. Roberts said deciding to go to the White House was not a formal conversation he and players had.
The trip came almost a month after a Department of Defense webpage describing Brooklyn Dodgers great and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson's military service was restored after it had come down.
That development came after pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were taken down — which the Pentagon said was a mistake — amid the department's effort to remove content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers "DEI."
Neither Robinson nor any other previous Dodgers greats were mentioned at the ceremony.
Trump did talk briefly about former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, whom the former New Yorker called a friend. Trump also poked fun at the late Yankees owner's notorious short-leash with his managers after he congratulated Roberts.
“I think he would have lasted even with George Steinbrenner,” Trump said. “You lose two games and you're fired.”
Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter and pitcher Clayton Kershaw gave brief remarks at the White House. Kershaw presented Trump with a Dodgers jersey and No. 47 on the back.
Trump may have tipped his hand that he expected the Dodgers — who were 9-2 going into Monday night's game at Washington — to repeat as World Series champs.
“After seeing how successful you've begun the season, I can tell you that you can plan on being back here, I hope you can be back here, next year,” Trump said.
The NHL's reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers became the first team to visit Trump in his second term when they were honored during a ceremony in the East Room in early February.
The White House also said recently the NFL’s Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles accepted their invitation for April 28.
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