During their recent magical World Series run, the champion Dodgers had many heroes, but one constant.
Whenever they needed a leader, they found one.
No matter how dire the circumstances, whenever they needed a hero, somebody stepped up.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto won a game on zero day’s rest. Will Smith won a game with one hand.
Freddie Freeman was an 18th-inning savior on one leg. Kiké Hernández was a ninth-inning savior with a bad elbow.
Everywhere you looked, there was a veteran Dodger willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the team.
That needs to happen again.
That needs to happen now.
A player needs to spearhead a decision that will not be made by the big business that runs this team, a decision that will bypass the biased blather and directly connect to their many besieged fans, a decision that only a player can make.
In the wake of Thursday’s White House confirmation that the Dodgers will be making the traditional champions visit there this spring, somebody needs to send a clear message to President Donald Trump.
“No.”
Federal immigration agents stage outside Gate E of Dodger Stadium on June 19. Sporadic immigration raids continue to roil Southern California.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
No, they won’t go.
No, they will not support the ICE raids that are taking place daily just outside their clubhouse doors.
No, they will not openly support an administration that has declared war on its fan base.
No, after basking in the adulation of four million diverse neighbors every summer, the players will not turn their backs on these people while the government continues to round them up despite no criminal history.
This isn’t about asking pro athletes to be politicians. This is about asking them to be people.
Some will say players should not be involved, that it’s a management decision high above the pay grade of the average southpaw or slugger. But when their backyard becomes a battlefield, those players need to fight back, and that time is now.
Dodger management will always leave any tough choice like this one up to the players. By virtue of hundreds of millions of dollars of salaries, the players are essentially partners who need to embrace that responsibility.
No matter what owner Mark Walter says, if the players don’t want to visit the White House, they won’t go.
No matter who shouts the loudest, whether it be conservatives or liberals, the players’ collective voice is the only one that counts.
So, when spring training begins next week, here’s hoping for a hero.
After being showered with numerous curtain calls by an adoring fan base, it’s time for the players to return the favor.
How about a standing ovation for the brave law-abiding immigrant family of four that cheers you from in the left-field pavilion even though they know they could be arrested and hauled away at any time?
How about a, “Let’s Go Dodgers” chant for the longtime residents with no criminal record who spent last October huddled around their TV sets clinging to your victories as reason for hope?
How about being there for so many who have been there for you?
A protestor wearing a Mookie Betts jersey and waving a Mexican and American flag stitched together protests ICE outside the Dodger Stadium game on June 21.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
This was an issue last year, when former Times columnist Dylan Hernández urged the Dodgers to cancel their initial White House visit.
“This was something we discussed with all the players, all of whom wanted to go,” team president Stan Kasten told Hernández. “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.”
So they went, all of them except an injured Freddie Freeman. The event was even attended by Mookie Betts, who had previously declined a visit when he was with the Boston Red Sox.
Since then, the landscape has dramatically changed in light of the ICE raids that ramped up during the middle of the season.
This is no longer simply about the rebuke of a president. This is about a fight against a system that has consistently terrorized southern California streets and recently, in Minneapolis, resulted in the deaths of two American citizens at the hands of agents of the American government.
Surely the Dodgers clubhouse leaders see this. Surely they feel this.
They can’t be so insulated that they don’t notice the protests in city streets that resemble those near Chavez Ravine. They can’t be so sheltered that they don’t hear the outrage from people who look just like their biggest fans.
The players can’t hide from this. The players need to handle this.
And, no, it’s not even up to manager Dave Roberts, who last week told the Times’ Bill Shaikin that he supports the visit.
“I was raised — by a man who served our country for 30 years — to respect the highest office in our country,” Roberts said. “For me, it doesn’t matter who is in the office, I’m going to go to the White House.”
Again, this is no longer about just Trump. This is about Tom Homan and Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem and all the other immigration officials that have wrought so much unfounded havoc.
Baseball clubhouses have traditionally leaned heavily to the right.
Nobody is asking anybody to disavow their beliefs. This is no longer about ideology, this is about standing up for those who are being wrongly arrested, being unfairly harassed or being made to feel constantly frightened in their own homes.
Dodger Stadium is one of those homes, and those who permanently live there need to do their best to provide comfort and safety for those who don’t.
Dodgers veteran leaders, this is your time.
Their White House visit would probably occur during the team’s trip to play the Washington Nationals in the first week of April. Here’s hoping that before the road trip, the secure and well-paid Dodgers veterans let the team’s kids understand what it means to be a Dodger and how declining a White House visit would be the Jackie Robinson thing to do.
Sending a title team to the White House is baseball tradition. Sending a message about equality and fairness and freedom is a Dodgers tradition.
Somebody in a Dodgers uniform needs to stand up for that tradition.
Anybody?