When news broke that the Dodgers planned to visit President Trump at the White House to commemorate last year’s World Series win, grumbles quickly spread across L.A.
Who in the front office or clubhouse thought it was smart to celebrate the Dodgers' incredible 2024 run — powered by talent homegrown and international that looks like the city on its logo — with someone who lost L.A. County to Kamala Harris by nearly 33 points?
Why would the Blue Crew want to be seen with the reddest member of this country's own Red Army?
How could the team of Jackie Robinson and Jaime Jarrín — with appreciation nights this season for seven ethnic groups, the LGBTQ+ community and labor unions — possibly want anything to do with a commander-in-chief who has declared all things DEI verboten and wants to gut labor rights?
Calls immediately came for the Dodgers to follow the lead of champions like the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia Eagles, who boycotted the White House during Trump’s first term as a rebuke of everything he stands for.
Read more:Hernández: Dodgers visiting Trump's White House goes against everything they represent
One of those voices was my fellow Times columnista Dylan Hernández, who wrote last week that if the Dodgers follow through on the invite, they will be “bending the knee to hateful forces similar to the ones they challenged when breaking their sport’s color barrier.”
But showing up doesn’t necessarily have to mean bowing down.
Boycotts are a time-honored tradition in sports. In 2020,
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