Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez Refused To Stay At Chicago's Trump Hotel With Team

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 17, 2016 5:35PM

Adrian Gonzalez (right) / Getty Images / Photo: Rob Carr

It’s hard not to love Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. He’s getting older and he’s pretty slow, but he’s still highly productive, personifying the best aspects of John Kruk’s famous quote, “I’m not an athlete, I’m a baseball player.”

(Ask Cubs fans about his effectiveness: He’s hitting .429 and has delivered three RBIs so far this NLCS.)

Here’s an even better reason to like the man they call Gonzo: he refused to stay at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago when the team visited the Cubs during the regular season in May. The Dodgers are not staying at Trump Tower during the NLCS for what the team says is logistical concerns, according to Vice Sports.

“I didn’t stay there,” Gonzalez said, according to the Press-Telegram. “I had my reasons.”

Gonzalez apparently didn’t elaborate, but baseball insider sources tell Chicagoist that the hotel’s owner, Donald Trump, routinely spouts off xenophobic vitriol that would understandably not sit well with a person of Mexican descent—or anybody who’s not too jazzed about ethnic demonization.

Reporter JP Hoornstra of the Press-Telegram wrote:

"The inference is obvious. Though he was born in San Diego, Gonzalez grew up in Mexico where his family has deep roots and his father owns a business. Gonzalez has played for the Mexican national team in numerous international competitions including the World Baseball Classic. He has been involved in charitable endeavors in Mexico, including refurbishing the sports complex in Tijuana where he played as a youth. Just this summer, he stepped in to help a youth baseball team from Mexico that was stranded in Los Angeles when its sponsor backed out of its commitment."

As Vice Sports noted, Gonzalez in the past has been a vocal about discriminatory practices against Hispanics:

In 2010, Gonzalez spoke out against Arizona's infamous Senate Bill 1070, which allows police officers to stop anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally.

"It's immoral," Gonzalez told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2010. "They're violating human rights. In a way, it goes against what this country was built on. This is discrimination. Are they going to pass out a picture saying "You should look like this and you're fine, but if you don't, do people have the right to question you?' That's profiling."

Gonzalez even threatened to boycott the 2011 All Star Game in Phoenix, a statement that attracted a lot of attention. He ended up starting in the game. Since then, Gonzalez has mostly shied away from political statements—until now.

The Trump Tower has since become ground zero for anti-Trump actions (and some pro-Hillary action, too ) in Chicago: Hundreds are expected at Tuesday's "Pussy Grabs Back" demonstration, and Trump's honorary street sign, near the Tower, was stolen the same day Mayor Rahm Emanuel—often considered a bit politically noxious himself, but ideal compared to Trump—and Illinois Dems met in front of the hotel to lambaste the GOP nominee.