The Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to visit President Donald Trump at the White House on July 23. One of their biggest stars does not plan to join them.
Eight-time All-Star Mookie Betts said Saturday he is unlikely to join the team in Washington, D.C. and instead plans to spend the day with his family after the birth of his third child, according to Jack Harris of the California Post:
“I’m not trying to make this a whole big deal,” Betts said. “We just had a baby. You don’t get many days off. They’re coming [on the road trip]. And just want to hang out with the fam. That’s really kind of it. But people are gonna make it a whole bunch of other stuff.”
Teams normally visit the White House during road series against the Washington Nationals or Baltimore Orioles, but the Dodgers’ road series against the Nationals at the start of the season featured three day games, making a trip all but impossible. Instead, they are using an off day between road series against the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets to travel down south.
Betts went out of his way to say the decision wasn’t politically motivated:
“If I do [go], people are gonna hate me. If I don’t, people are gonna hate me,” he said. “So instead of trying to make everyone else happy, I’m gonna think about myself and my family.”
Betts reiterated that his thinking was not politically motivated, but acknowledged “people are gonna try to drag me into politics, just because I am who I am.”
“That’s just the cards I’m dealt,” he said. “So it is what it is.”
This is the fourth time Betts has won the World Series. He skipped the trip after his first title with the Boston Red Sox in 2018 during Trump’s first team, simply saying he “decided not to” rather than present a political reason. He then visited former president Joe Biden with the rest of the 2020 Dodgers.
After winning the title in 2024, Betts was initially non-committal but did make the trip while indicating it was a matter of being there with his teammates. He also said he regretted not going after 2018, saying “I made it about me.”
Betts in his seventh season with the Dodgers and is currently slashing .238/.298/.424 while playing standout defense at shortstop. After a slow start to the season, he’s swung a hot bat with a .323 batting average and 5 homers since June 13.
Kiké Hernández also skipping White House
Betts won’t be the only Dodgers fan favorite skipping 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Veteran utility man Kiké Hernández has confirmed he will not be going either, citing the fact that he will be on a rehab assignment then amid his return from a left oblique strain.
However, when asked if he would have gone if healthy, he replied “Probably not.”
Like Betts, Hernández attended the White House last year. He did indicate he wasn’t happy with going, describing the visit as “kind of a lose-lose situation for me” in comments to radio reporter Dave Vassegh.
That comment appeared to contradict team president Stan Kasten’s insistence that “all” of the players wanted to go. The Dodgers went to great pains to present a united front during last year’s trip, but they already have more holdouts this year.
