SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Whether the Cubs get to the White House in time to answer President Obama’s personal invitation, it’s the next guy moving into the place that could have the bigger impact on the Cubs’ organization and the rest of major league baseball.
The aftershocks of Tuesday night’s polarizing presidential election results rumbled through the general managers meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Wednesday, creating a buzz among baseball officials trying to anticipate the impact on their industry of a Trump presidency.
“What the president-elect is thinking from a policy perspective is probably not as granular as to affect anything we’re going to be doing in the next couple of years,” said commissioner Rob Manfred, whose industry is in the final stages of collective bargaining negotiations.
“I haven’t heard anything with regards to the Cuba issue that would suggest there is going to be any change,” he added. “We’re all familiar with what he said about Mexico. We need to wait and see what actually happens.”
One major league executive joked about finding some good players in Mexico before Trump builds his wall.
For the Cubs, the connection with Trump is more personal and multi-layered than most teams.
Early in the year members of the Cubs’ family ownership group – which includes conservative Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts – spent millions heading efforts to defeat Trump, eliciting a Twitter threat: “They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!”
By the end of the baseball season, Ricketts family members turned their political efforts and money toward support for Trump.
Team president Theo Epstein, on the other hand, showed up at a Hillary Clinton fundraiser in Chicago in September, the day after the team announced his five-year contract extension, and made a maximum-allowed donation to her campaign.
When the Cubs last week won the franchise’s first World Series championship in 108 years, they got an invitation almost immediately from Obama – the Chicago-resident White Sox fan – to visit the White House before he’s out of office.
“I know after he tweeted that out, and that was well before the election, there was a lot of interest from our players in taking him up on that invitation,” Epstein said. “There was some momentum for it. Nothing’s been finalized, but we’ll see where it goes. It’d be nice given the Chicago ties, obviously.”
After Tuesday night, the traditional champions’ trip to the White House takes on a new political context, with the natural timing if the Cubs were to go before the transition probably around the mid-January Cubs’ Convention when they’re all gathered anyway.
Inauguration Day is Jan. 20.
Already, at least one Cubs player, Jake Arrieta, heralded Trump’s election on Twitter: “Time for Hollywood to pony up and head for the border. #illhelpyoupack #beatit.”
“We have, like the populace, players who have political affiliations,” Arrieta’s agent, Scott Boras said Wednesday. “And we would expect them to, like any other Americans. I’m glad that they’re all interested in our country.”
Whatever the economic or domestic-policy effects of a Trump presidency, MLB’s most immediate and direct concerns involve foreign relations, given the game’s deep international scouting roots and efforts to grow international markets.
Trump’s controversial rhetoric regarding immigration, foreign leaders and potential policies during the campaign raises questions for an industry that leans hard on U.S. relations with other countries in scouting and outreach efforts.
“It’s essential,” said Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer, who wouldn’t comment on his concerns over the potential impact of a Trump presidency. “It has to be something we encourage. Look at our team. Javy Baez is from Puerto Rico; he’s a fan favorite. Willson Contreras is from Venezuela; he’s a fan favorite. [Jorge] Soler is from Cuba; [Aroldis] Chapman’s from Cubs, and people are cheering wildly for them.
“We’re a very international, very diverse team, and I think our fans loved it. And I think that’s really important.”
After diplomatic relations with Cuba were restored 16 months ago, the Tampa Bay Rays traveled last spring to Cuba for a landmark exhibition with the Cuban national team. Both the Cubs and White Sox, with high-profile Cuban players, had applied for that trip.
“All of us, from the team and players’ side support the notion of continuing the international growth of the game,” White Sox GM Rick Hahn said. “It’s good for the league. It’s good for the individual clubs. It’s good for the fans, to be exposed to it globally.
“As for the process or the geopolitical factors involved in that, we’re just trying to put the best team on the field we can. And hope it doesn’t rain.”
