Minus a handful of their postseason heroes, the Los Angeles Dodgers made their second consecutive trip to the White House on Thursday, July 23 to commemorate their back-to-back World Series championships. This time, principal owner Mark Walter made it extra special for President Donald Trump: In addition to the standard jersey presentation, he gifted the 47th president a championship ring.
Trump feted the champions for 25 minutes in an outdoor ceremony in a Rose Garden that Trump insisted was far superior after his renovations. And at its conclusion, Walter, the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, presented Trump the ring.
“Do I have to report this?” Trump asked the Dodgers owner.
Said Walter: “It’s got your name on it.”
Trump then tucked it into his coat pocket, as Walter presented him his No. 47 World Series jersey.
While the Dodgers counted full attendance among players and staffers when they visited in April 2025, this visit to President Trump’s White House was missing a few key players. Mookie Betts has said he will take the day off to spend time with his wife and three children, including a newborn daughter accompanying them on the road trip.
And Kiké Hernández, who is working his way back from an oblique injury, remains inactive, although he has indicated he might not attend the ceremony if healthy.
Hernández was the lone Dodger to speak out against aggressive actions by Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which resulted in significant raids on immigrant communities and people of color in Los Angeles, an operation that began the month following the Dodgers’ White House visit.
Betts did not visit the White House with the Boston Red Sox in 2019, one year after they won the World Series. This time, he tells the New York Post, his absence isn’t politically motivated, although “people are going to try to drag me into politics. That’s just the cards I’m dealt. So it is what it is.”
Trump also searched the crowd for another World Series Game 7 hero, catcher Will Smith, who hit the go-ahead home run in the 11th inning. “Where’s Will?” the president asked. But Smith remains out with a back injury.
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Trump enters with owner Mark Walter, manager Dave Roberts
President Trump entered the Rose Garden accompanied by Dodgers owner Mark Walter and manager Dave Roberts. Several Cabinet members, including Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Cheryl Hines, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin were in attendance.
“I want to thank Dodgers owner and my friend, chairman Mark Walter, for being here, along with president Stan Kasten and manager Dave Roberts. That’s a helluva manager,” the president said.
Trump noted this was the first such ceremony held in the reconstructed Rose Garden.
“This is really the new Rose Garden. How beautiful this is,” Trump said to the team and guests. “This used to be grass. And it was always wet. The White House is built on a wetland.
“We had a lot of very upset women who would stand there in high heels. And they’d go down like quicksand. I decided to do something about it. This has become an incredible area for dining, and news conferences. This is the first time we’ve ever used the new Rose Garden.
“You think Biden would do this? I don’t think so.”
Clayton Kershaw got one out in World Series, earns podium love
In his last appearance of his career, Clayton Kershaw recorded just one out, with the bases loaded in the 12th inning of Game 3. President Trump shouted him out anyhow, in recounting their eventual 18-inning victory.
“He’s still pitching well, now, isn’t he?'” Trump said of the retired Kershaw.
Trump also credited unheralded reliever Will Klein, who pitched four shutout innings to keep the game level.
Trump lauds Ohtani, several teammates as ‘winners’
The president took several moments to shout out the great Shohei Ohtani, taking special note of his NLCS Game 4 performance, when he hit three home runs and pitched six shutout innings to eliminate the Milwaukee Brewers.
“Before the announcer said it, I said, ‘This might be the best game ever played,'” Trump said as he glanced at Ohtani. “Because you did the pitching and the hitting.”
Trump noted Max Muncy setting a franchise record with his 12th postseason home run, and asked, “Where’s Max? That guy’s a winner. They’re all winners.”
Similarly, he said of Kershaw, “He’s a winner. You talk about a winner!” Miguel Rojas, Game 7 hero? “I hear he’s a winner!”
Freddie Freeman’s 18th-inning home run won that World Series Game 3 – longest in World Series history – in which Kershaw and Klein pitched, and Trump sought him out. “Where’s Freddie? I love Freddie!”
Freeman signed a six-year, $162 million contract with the Dodgers after winning the 2021 World Series with Atlanta. Trump said that during a speech in Georgia Wednesday – in which he pulled former Braves manager Brian Snitker on the stage – he made a point to note, “Great going losing Freddie. I said, ‘What about Freddie? Could you have kept him?’ I don’t know the answer to that, but all I know is you’ve been just as good here.
“Usually, it doesn’t work out that way. You go and it’s not quite the same. I think you may be even better.”
How to watch Dodgers White House visit
The White House Live page and the White House YouTube Channel will provide streaming options.
Dodgers contingent visits Capitol
Before heading to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Roberts and World Series heroes Rojas and Klein met with a group of legislators at the Capitol.
Club president Stan Kasten was also part of the Dodgers’ Capitol contingent.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Dodgers visit White House, as owner gives President Trump championship ring
