Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez wouldn’t join his teammates at a Donald Trump-owned hotel in the spring
Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez reacts after striking out against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
When the Dodgers visited Chicago to play the Cubs this spring, they stayed at the the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
That is, all of the Dodgers except one stayed there. First baseman Adrian Gonzalez opted to stay elsewhere.
“I didn’t stay there,” Adrian Gonzalez told the Southern California News Group. “I had my reasons.”
He added with a smile, “We’re here to play baseball not talk politics.”
It seems likely Gonzalez’s decision had something to do with the hotel’s owner, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Gonzalez has close ties with Mexico. He was born in San Diego but raised in Tijuana by his Mexican parents. Fluent in English and Spanish, Gonzalez has served as team captain for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.
“I’m Mexican and I’m American,” he told The Times’ Dylan Hernandez in 2013.
On the campaign trail, Trump has promised to build a border wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, many of whom he described as rapists, drug dealers and criminals during a speech in June 2015.
The Dodgers were in Chicago again this weekend for the first two games of the National League Championship Series but did not stay at the Trump International this time because of a non-refundable deposit required to hold a block of rooms.
Twitter: @chewkiii
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