When their moment came to show the world what they were about, they were served a fastball over the middle of the plate.
And the Dodgers whiffed.
Stupid me, thinking they’d overcome their penchant for choking when they won the World Series last season.
The Dodgers have accepted an invitation from President Trump to visit the White House on April 7, the franchise of Jackie Robinson bending the knee to hateful forces similar to the ones they challenged when breaking their sport’s color barrier.
How pathetic. How spineless. More than anything, how hypocritical.
Eight days after their White House visit, the Dodgers will celebrate Jackie Robinson Day. They will insinuate, if not outright say, they are more than a baseball team. They will portray themselves as leaders of social progress. They will be full of it.
The Dodgers are embarking on the path of least resistance, and that’s not what leaders do. Leaders don’t cower in fear of ignorant extremists, no matter how many of them there are. Leaders do what is right and deal with the consequences.
Before the Dodgers’ home opener on Thursday, team president Stan Kasten made an unconvincing effort to reframe the discussion about the upcoming trip to the White House.
“This was something we discussed with all the players, all of whom wanted to go,” Kasten said. “Remember, everyone in here grew up wanting to be a world champion and all the things that come with it, and it comes with a champagne toast, silliness in the locker room, a parade, rings, an invitation to the White House. It’s what they all come to associate with being world champions. Everyone wanted to go, and so we did.”
In other words, Kasten would like for the Dodgers to be treated like just a baseball team when it comes to the White House visit. How convenient.
Asked about the discrepancy in the values promoted by his franchise and the Trump administration, Kasten replied, “This [has] nothing to do with politics. For everyone in this room, this is about what they get as their reward for being world champions, getting to the White House. I think there are probably people in this room who have different points of view on politics. No one thought this trip is about politics, it’s about celebrating their world championship.”
But this is about politics. Regardless of the Dodgers’ intentions, contributing to the normalization of Trump’s rhetoric and behavior is political. Pretending Trump is as harmless as the average president is political.
I don’t expect athletes or coaches to be informed about anything outside of their fields of work. I don’t expect them to understand how a president’s policies can affect everyday people. What I do expect is for an organization’s primary decision makers to see the larger picture and for individuals such as Kasten to embrace the responsibility of doing what’s right by the Dodgers’ legacy, whether his players like it or not. Kasten disagreed.
“You can’t separate me from the players,” he said. “I won’t let you do that.”
There are times such separation can be beneficial, however.
When the Dodgers announced plans in 2013 to stage their first Pride Night, management encountered resistance from some corners of the clubhouse. Management’s decision to overrule the players has resulted in the Dodgers earning a reputation as a gay-friendly organization.
Kasten didn’t want to hear any of that.
“You can do whatever you want on the subject,” he said. ‘I’m finished responding to you, and I thought I gave you a well-considered, clear-English-sentence set of answers. That’s all I can do for you. That’s all I’m going to do.”
Fans arrive at Dodger Stadium ahead of the team’s home opener against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
But did Kasten appreciate how a significant part of his team’s fan base was disappointed by the choice to accept Trump’s invitation?
“Either way,” Kasten said. “Whenever there’s politics involved, there’s approximately half of the fan base that feels one way and half that feels the other way. That’s everywhere. That’s how we are on political issues. We didn’t view it through a political prism. We viewed it through the reward that all of these players have spent their lives trying to achieve, and they deserve it and they wanted to do it.”
Except the fans of his team aren’t split 50-50. The majority of L.A. county didn’t vote for Trump, and by defying their wishes, the Dodgers have broken their unwritten contract with a city that has supported them almost unconditionally.
The Dodgers owe this loyalty to the widespread perception that they represent Los Angeles and its residents. They have largely followed through on this unspoken agreement, by creating a stadium environment in which people of every background feel welcome, by constructing rosters that reflect the belief that diversity is a strength.
Trump campaigned on xenophobia in multiple election cycles. He called Mexican immigrants “rapists” in 2015 when announcing his first presidential candidacy. He made unfounded claims last year that Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs. The rhetoric has led to actual policy decisions, as he has issued multiple executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the public and private sectors. The administration’s anti-DEI efforts were believed to have played a role in a temporary removal of an article on Robinson’s U.S. Army career from the Department of Defense website.
Trump’s presidency is characterized by a mean-spiritedness that runs contrary to the progressive vision of this country. The administration seems to be taking a bizarre delight in firing federal workers, with little or no consideration for how this could affect countless families.
There’s a reason so many of their fans feel betrayed. There’s a reason so many of them are despondent, especially after the Dodgers’ moral flexibility was exposed two years ago in their dealings with a drag group which they invited, disinvited and reinvited to be honored in a Pride night pregame ceremony.
The Dodgers will spare themselves the headache of dealing with Trump supporters in the short term, and whatever Kasten says, it’s obvious this is why they’re doing what they’re doing. But in doing so, they are losing what gave them a distinct place in American history.