The Washington Nationals will be missing at least one major contributor when visiting the House on Monday.
Closer Sean Doolittle told The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty on Friday that he does not plan to attend the team’s White House visit. Doolittle is the first member of the Nationals to publicly confirm he will not attend the event, currently scheduled for 1:15 p.m. ET on Monday.
The White House announced the visit early in the morning on Friday, two days after the Nationals won their first-ever championship in seven games.
The 2019 World Series Champion Washington @Nationals will be visiting the White House on Monday! ⚾🏆 pic.twitter.com/4Ri6pwDv7z
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 1, 2019
While several more Nationals could still opt out of the visit, it comes as little surprise that Doolittle shot down any possibility of willingly standing behind President Donald Trump and taking part in a photo op for the current administration.
Doolittle has been outspoken on social issues
Since well before he joined the Nationals, Doolittle has been one of the most outwardly liberal players in baseball.
The southpaw and his wife, Eireann Dolan, proactively supported Pride Nights and hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for Syrian refugees during his time with the Oakland Athletics, and have also penned an op-ed on veterans’ issues. Not much has changed since Doolittle and Dolan moved to the nation’s capital.
Doolittle hasn’t spoken out much against Trump specifically, but he did offer a direct repudiation of Trump’s “locker room talk” defense when the infamous “Access Hollywood” tapes rocked Trump’s presidential campaign.
As an athlete, I've been in locker rooms my entire adult life and uh, that's not locker room talk.
— Obi-Sean Kenobi Doolittle (@whatwouldDOOdo) October 10, 2016
A fan favorite, Doolittle was one of only two reliable options in the Nationals bullpen during the postseason, alongside right-hander Daniel Hudson. The 33-year-old struggled with injuries during the regular season on his way to an iffy 4.05 ERA, but he was a force in the postseason with a 1.74 ERA in 10.1 innings
Nationals fans booed Trump at World Series
Doolittle’s decision figures to be popular with a number of Nationals fans, judging from the Nationals Park crowd’s reaction when Trump was shown on the big screen during Game 5 of the World Series.
Trump was met with vociferous booing and a “Lock him up!” chant in parts of the stadium, with two banners calling for his impeachment popping up at the stadium. A campaign ad for Trump was also loudly booed at the Nationals’ Game 7 watch party.
Trump has had mixed results with World Series visits
It remains to be seen if any other Nationals decide to join Doolittle in not attending the White House event, and recent history indicates there will be more.
Several Red Sox players on the 2018 team, including Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts and David Price skipped the White House visit. Manager Alex Cora also opted against the visit, citing his Puerto Rican heritage and the Trump administration’s handling of Puerto Rico’s recovery after it was ravaged by Hurricane Maria. Interestingly enough, Nationals manager Dave Martinez is also Puerto Rican.
Multiple key players on the 2017 Houston Astros did not visit Trump either, including Carlos Correa, Carlos Beltran and Ken Giles, though none of them specifically cited Trump as the reason. Several players on the 2016 Chicago Cubs also didn’t make the trip, with one saying he was more interested in going to the “dinosaur museums.”
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