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BALTIMORE – It was an iconic celebration of baseball: Boston Red Sox receiver Christian Vázquez jumped into the arms of pitcher Chris Sale after the World Series final last fall, his teammates in unison.
But on Thursday, star players will be far away. Dirty heads to the White House where the 2018 champions will be honored by President Trump. Vázquez will be at home in Boston, one of at least 10 players, all Latin American or African-American, who have chosen not to attend.
"It's personal, brother," said Vázquez, a native of Bayamón, Puerto Rico, in a brief interview before a match against the Orioles on Wednesday. Of the dozen players who have announced their presence, all but one – the field player J.D. Martinez, of Cuban descent – are white. Manager Alex Cora, from Puerto Rico, will not participate in the event either.
"Everyone has personal opinions," said Vázquez. "I do not like talking about those thoughts."
The Red Sox sought to minimize the division, but the racial division of the team symbolized a time when Trump – who sowed and exploited the deep divisions of American society – forced the country to confronting identity, transforming what was once a welfare ceremony into the White House at a time of cultural calculation.
From famous sports heroes to lesser-known Olympians to the stars of the performing arts, the toxicity of the Trump era has led formerly apolitical artists to choose a party and, in doing so, to make a judgment on the President himself.
"This really shows the gap and the place we occupy in our country," said retired figure skater Adam Rippon, who won the bronze medal at the Winter Olympics last year, but did not participate in Visit of the American team to the White House. On Twitter, Rippon, who is gay, said he would "not support" an administration that he says is willing to "discriminate against those whom they perceive as different".
In an interview this week, Rippon said that the racial division between the Red Sox is further evidence that minorities are "excluded" from Trump's government program and feel compelled to take a stand.
"It's amazing to win the World Series and go to the White House and it's amazing," he said. "But the other side of the coin is that as an athlete, you have this incredible platform and you have the choice to be that model for your young man. "
On rare occasions, athletes boycotted visits to the White House under previous presidents for political reasons. But Trump has directly and enthusiastically engaged the dissidents, aggravating conflicts and fueling racial and social tensions.
Entire teams, such as the University of Virginia men's basketball team this month, have declined the invitation, while the White House has not offered any offers to some women's teams, including two WNBA champions, who were usually on the list.
Trump angrily canceled invitations to the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and the Philadelphia Eagles last year after black players publicly announced that they would not come.
"I had never, to date, expressed my opinions that way, because I'm not a politician," said Carmen de Lavallade, 88, actress, dancer and black Creole choreographer, who was among the first to reject Trump.
In August 2017, she announced that she would not attend a traditional White House reception for artists honored each year by the Kennedy Center. This pushed Trump and the first lady to react by skipping the event.
"It's as if he had opened the Pandora's box," said de Lavallade, who had played for President Lyndon B. Johnson. She cited Trump's misgivings in denouncing protesters at a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville for motivating her decision.
Some black athletes visited the Trump White House, including golfer Tiger Woods, a Trump business partner, who was awarded the President's Medal of Freedom this week.
But high-profile snubs have raised the stakes for others. In January, Trump treated Clemson University's football team for an extension of fast food in the East Room during the partial closure of the government.
More than 70 players showed up, but 42 of the team's 57 African-American players did not, according to an article in The Root, cite three anonymous players, citing "divisive politics" and "racism" of Trump.
The Red Sox president, Sam Kennedy, said the organization had decided, after winning the 2004 World Series, to adopt an "apolitical" stance and accept invitations to the House- White based on respect for the institution. Most of the players came in 2005 and 2008 to meet President George W. Bush and in 2014 to meet with President Barack Obama.
In the midst of this year's controversy, players said they respected each other's decisions and called the debate a private matter.
But Cora said that it would not be appropriate for him to go to the White House while his homeland, Puerto Rico, is still recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, who has done more than 3,000 deaths on the island two years ago.
This feeling has been interpreted as an implicit reprimand of Trump, who angrily rejected critics over his administration's response. The president blamed local officials for their mismanagement and dramatically inflated the amount of federal aid paid to the island. A broader package of disaster relief measures has been blocked in Congress, Trump opposing Democratic pressure to get more money for Puerto Rico.
Cora was harassed by the questions and he said before the match Wednesday that he was done with the subject. Players "know how I feel," he told reporters. "We just put him to rest."
While current Red Sox players played down or tried to avoid discussing possible tensions during the visit to the White House, former star David Ortiz said this week that he was supporting the event's organizers and condemned Trump's speech on immigrants.
"I am an immigrant. As for the political side, I do not know much about politics and things like that, but when it falls [to] the way immigrants were treated is something that goes a long way, "said Ortiz, born in the Dominican Republic, at the WEEI radio station earlier this week. "You do not want to shake hands with a guy who treats immigrants like [expletive] because I am an immigrant. "
The embarrassment in the clubhouse was evident after the team's 2-1 win on Wednesday when a Red Sox staffer prevented a Washington Post reporter from entering the clubhouse with other journalists, saying that No other question about the White House would be allowed.
In Boston, the racial division threatened to undermine last year's sense of well-being and listen to the team's troubled history of segregation. The Red Sox were the last Major League franchise to separate in 1957 under the patronage of long-time owner Tom Yawkey.
Kennedy said the organization has taken a stand on some sensitive cultural issues, including successfully asking a city commission to rename a causeway near Fenway Park, from Yawkey Way to Jersey Street.
The team's leadership acknowledged that the racial fracture following the visit to the White House "would worry us," said Kennedy, who will attend the meeting. "I talked to a lot of players. It is important to let the guys know that we respect and support their individual decisions. "
In the clubhouse, some players were sitting in front of their locker, absorbed by their cell phone, others huddled around a television to watch another game.
Sometimes the players split into small groups. Four white players started a game of cards, while Vázquez and Eduardo Rodriguez, a Venezuelan who will not visit the White House, spoke Spanish.
While refusing to discuss his decision, Vázquez, like Cora, lamented the slow recovery of Puerto Rico, where he claimed that some of his relatives had lost electricity and had the roof of their house explode. Members of the team, including white and Latin American players, visited the US territory last year, once on a rescue mission to deliver supplies and another after the World Series for a parade to the US. honor of Cora.
When asked if his decision would affect how it is perceived by the public, Vázquez replied, "It's difficult. . . Children see us every day on television, no matter what happens, whether I go there or not. It's nothing personal. I am "bueno" at my home in Puerto Rico. "
"We need help to return to the beautiful city of Puerto Rico we had before," he said. "That's all we ask for."
On the other side of the coin, Mitch Moreland, a first-base player from Amory, arrived at his locker wearing American flag shorts – a gift from his teammate Andrew Benintendi, of Cincinnati, a- he declared. Moreland said he was considering meeting Trump and called the visit to the White House "very special".
"Everyone has their choice. We respect each other, "Moreland said. By his own decision, he offered a patriotic response: "I was born in America and I will probably be buried here, so I'm excited about this opportunity."
"Politically, it did not matter who was in the White House. If I have the opportunity to go to the White House and meet with the President, I will go, "said Heath Hembree, rescue thrower, Spartanburg, S.C." Nobody tried to persuade me. They have their reasons why not go there.
His fellow countryman, David Price, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was digging crosswords in a newspaper in front of his locker. Price, who is black, had caused a tumult last week when he retweeted to its 1.8 million followers The Boston sports reporter's observation that the racial divide in the team meant that only the "White Sox" were going to the White House. Price then explained that he found the tweet insensitive and was trying to reprimand the author.
Price said: "It's the moment we arrived." But he said that he respected his teammates: "Absolutely, it's America – right? Right?"
Price declined to explain his decision and said he was not monitoring the reaction of the public. But it was clear that he was extremely aware of the nuances of the debate. Hearing a reporter telling another player that the Golden State Warriors had refused a visit to meet Trump, Price felt compelled to intervene.
"The invitation has been canceled," he said emphatically. "Make sure you say that."
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