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Astros' president of business operations Reid
Ryan said the team had accepted a White House invitation, though
the date was yet to be scheduled.
The Astros won baseball's World Series two months ago and it is
customary for the winner of major sports champions in the U.S.
to receive an invitation to the White House to meet with the
president.
But these are not normal times, as evidenced by Trump's tweet in
September rescinding an invitation to the National Basketball
Association's champion Golden State Warriors.
This followed a disclosure by Golden State star guard Stephen
Curry that he would vote not to visit if the team held a poll.
"This is a tradition and an honor. For many people, this might
be their only time to ever be invited to the White House," Ryan
told the Chronicle of the Astros' plans.
"And as the representatives of baseball and the World Series
champs, when the White House calls and invites you to come up,
it's something that as an organization we felt both a
responsibility and an obligation to be part of."
This does not necessarily mean every member of Houston's World
Series-winning team will go.
The New England Patriots visited the White House after winning
the Super Bowl earlier this year, but several team members
skipped the trip.
Houston third baseman Alex Bregman, who called Trump a "joke"
before the 2016 presidential election, was recently asked
whether he would accept an invitation.
"I don't know. I'm gonna do whatever Carlos Beltran and Carlos
Correa do," Bregman said, referring to two of the team's players
from Puerto Rico.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; editing by
Amlan Chakraborty)
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