Next on Astros’ plate: White House trip?
Players offer a mix of opinions in wake of recent incidents
Although the White House has not issued an invitation publicly to the World Series champion Astros, the team is open to visiting.
Several Astros players expressed gratitude for a potential visit, which had been a longtime tradition until President Donald Trump rescinded an invitation to the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
“I’m going to go,” starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel said, with a long pause and a shrug.
“If the team goes, I’m going,” said outfielder George Springer, who was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.
Third baseman Alex Bregman, who tweeted “Trump is a joke” a year ago, twisted in his seat as he weighed a question about the visit. He said: “How do I feel about it? Umm. I don’t know. I’m gonna do whatever Carlos Beltran and Carlos Correa do.”
Most of the players who spoke on Friday channeled a spirit of camaraderie. Lance McCullers Jr., who started Game 7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, acknowledged the tempestuous political climate.
“There’s obviously a lot of things that this country is going through and things that people need to deal with, but it’s the White House,” McCullers said. “It’s hard to say you’re not going to go see the most historic building in our country. … The White House stands for a lot, and I would be crazy not to want to see that firsthand.”
Manager A.J. Hinch said he expected questions about the White House but that the Astros “will decide in time” if they would accept a potential invitation.
No such talk in locker room
Despite beliefs that the same principles guiding the separation of church and state should apply to sports, politics of the current White House administration have attached intractably to sports during President Trump’s first year in office. The president has prodded athletes and teams with his comments at rallies and on social media.
In September, President Trump revoked an invitation to the Warriors after guard Stephen Curry said he would vote for the team to not visit the White House. President Trump announced his decision on Twitter: “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!”
During a rally the same month in Huntsville, Ala., President Trump called on NFL owners to fire players who kneeled during the national anthem as an act of protest.
President Trump’s comments about Hispanics and his immigration policies have fueled ongoing controversy. The Astros have several foreign-born players.
Pitcher Collin McHugh previously had contributed the most of any Astros player to national discussions involving President Trump.
A day after Bregman’s tweet in October 2016, McHugh wrote a lengthy post on Instagram defining “locker room talk,” a phrase that President Trump, then a Republican candidate, had used to explain lewd comments he had made to television host Billy Bush in 2005 about courting women.
“Maybe Mr. Trump does talk like that in his country club locker room,” McHugh wrote. “Perhaps he’s simply not privy to the kind of conversations that take place in other locker rooms. But as for me and my Astros team, our “locker room talk” sounds absolutely nothing like his. And I couldn’t be more proud of that.”
In January this year, after then-President elect Trump criticized civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat who had questioned the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency because of alleged interference by Russia in the election, McHugh wrote a series of tweets, one of which stated he did not think the presidentelect “has any idea what he’s talking about.”
Firestorms with NFL, NBA
About two dozen players from the NFL Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, including quarterback Tom Brady, did not attend an honorary visit to the White House in April. Of those not in attendance, running back LeGarrette Blount in a Fox Sports radio interview and safety Devin McCourty in an interview with Time magazine said they did not feel welcomed to the White House.
After President Trump withdrew his invitation to the Warriors, coach Steve Kerr, who has been openly critical of Trump and his administration on multiple occasions, said the team probably would not have gone had it been extended an invitation.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver then released a statement regarding the Warriors not being invited to the White House:
“I was in favor of the team visiting the White House and thought it was a rare opportunity for these players to share their views directly with the President. I am disappointed that that will not happen,” Silver said. “More importantly, I am proud of our players for taking an active role in their communities and continuing to speak out on critically important issues.”
Major League Baseball has not yet commented on the matter.
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