BALTIMORE — In town this week to play the Baltimore Orioles, the World Series champion Boston Red Sox are heading to the White House Thursday to celebrate last fall’s win — well, some members of the team are.
Others, as has become the norm during the Trump era, are making political statements by not going — manager Alex Cora among them.
Cora, a Puerto Rican native unhappy with President Trump’s handling of his storm-ravaged home island, is one of a number of Red Sox team members — all minorities — skipping the visit, while almost all of the players attending are white.
But the Red Sox manager insists the White House invitation that will split the team Thursday won’t divide his team for the rest of the season.
Cora said it is not a problem that some players will attend while others won’t.
“Not at all,” he said Monday.
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Born in Puerto Rico in 1975, Cora said he’s comfortable with his decision to skip meeting the president.
“It is a decision I made with a lot of conviction. I think the message was clear, simple,” Cora said Monday.
The Red Sox won the World Series last fall and were invited to the White House, as the tradition goes. They will close out a three-game series in Baltimore on Wednesday and don’t play Thursday.
Tweets from Red Sox pitcher David Price suggest he will not attend. Price retweeted a columnist’s observation that the clubhouse seemed to be split down racial lines. All eight players confirmed to be skipping the trip are people of color, as well as Cora. Most who will visit are white.
Pitcher Heath Hembree told The Washington Times he will attend the White House event.
“I am looking forward to it,” Hembree said. “It is an honor just to go to the White House and check it out and see all of the history that is there.”
Hembree also dismissed any suggestion the trip would divide the club.
“As far as in the clubhouse and playing baseball, we are as united as we can be,” he said.
The Red Sox were 17-19 entering Tuesday, six games back of first-place Tampa Bay in the American League East.
Several college and professional title teams have declined a White House invitation with President Trump in office.
The Golden State Warriors did not go to the White House after winning the NBA title in 2017 and 2018. Trump revoked the Warriors’ invitation in 2017 after Stephen Curry said he did not want to attend. The White House also canceled a planned visit by the Philadelphia Eagles after they won the Super Bowl in 2018.
Other teams, like the Stanley Cup-winning Washington Capitals, attended with only a few individual holdouts. Goalie Braden Holtby and forward Brett Connolly were the only players on Washington’s roster to decline the invitation.
Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett recently said his team would not be able to go to the White House, citing the fact several players are leaving early for a possible pro career. The Cavaliers won the NCAA title in April.
The Baylor women’s basketball team visited the White House last month after winning the NCAA crown in early April. Bears coach Kim Mulkey said “it’s not a political issue for me,” citing her trips during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
But some of her players did not look enthused to be in the Oval Office in official photos and video. Center Kalani Brown posted a video to Instagram surveying the fast food platter laid out for the visitors, laughing and saying, “OK, Donnie. Cool.”
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