The manager of the Boston Red Sox said Sunday it's unclear whether the team, fresh off a World Series win, will visit the White House as part of its victory celebration.
The Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 Sunday in the final championship game of the series. Manager Alex Cora told reporters in a post-game news conference if the team is invited to meet with President Donald Trump, there will be a conversation among team members "later on."
BOSTON RED SOX WIN THE WORLD SERIES BEHIND TWO HOMERS FROM STEVE PEARCE
Cora, a native of Puerto Rico, has been critical of Trump — most notably in September after the president claimed 3,000 people didn't die after Hurricane Maria hit the island, though Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello officially updated the estimated number of those who died as a result of the storm.
"3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths," Trump tweeted.
He added, "Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000..." Trump also claimed Democrats were responsible for raising the death toll "in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!"
Cora told MassLive.com at the time that Trump's tweets were "disrespectful."
"Three-thousand, six, 18, I don't know," Cora said. "We will never know how many we lost. I hate that people make it a political issue. This is about human beings. The people that went through this, they know what happened."
Cora said that while he doesn't "agree with a lot of the stuff [Trump] says" about Puerto Rico, he admitted to respecting Trump because "he's the president of the United States."
John Henry, the principal owner of the Red Sox, told WEEI the White House has yet to invite the team. He said he believes the players will make the trip if they get an invite.
"This is a special team," he said of the iconic team, whose win Sunday night marked the team's ninth World Series title in franchise history. "We'll see what they want to do, but I think so."
Sports teams have traditionally visited the White House to celebrate their league's wins, whether it's the World Series, Super Bowl or Stanley Cup. But, since Trump took office, some sports players have skipped visiting 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue because of disagreements with Trump and his administration.
The president in June uninvited the Philadelphia Eagles, who had months earlier won Super Bowl LII, because members of the team didn't agree with Trump's views that NFL players should stand for the national anthem.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment Monday evening.
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