Adrian Gonzalez wouldn't stay with Dodgers at a Trump hotel in Chicago

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, home run hero of the National League Championship Series Game 2, made special accommodations when his team went to Chicago to play the Chicago Cubs back in May. See, the team usually stays at the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which they’ve been doing for years. But Gonzalez didn’t want to stay there and chose to stay at a different hotel.

Gonzalez didn’t spell out exactly why he didn’t want to use that particular hotel, which is owned by Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President.

“I didn’t stay there,” Adrian Gonzalez confirmed. “I had my reasons.”

That’s what he said to the Orange County Register, and just like jazz, it’s the words he didn’t say. He wouldn’t specifically name Trump as the reason he didn’t want to stay at that particular hotel, but it’s pretty easy to understand why Gonzalez, a Mexican-American, wouldn’t want to stay in a Trump owned hotel. Back in June 2015 during his speech announcing his presidential bid, Trump said that many immigrants coming from Mexico are rapists and criminals, a statement which the facts do not support.

Gonzalez grew up in Mexico, his family is from there, and his father owned an air-conditioning business in Tijuana. He’s played for the Mexican team in the World Baseball Classic, and he’s given his time and money to Mexican charities. And according to the Orange County Register, he even refurbished the sports complex in Tijuana where he played when he was younger. Gonzalez’s roots in Mexico are deep.

When the Dodgers came to town to play the Cubs in the NLCS this past weekend, there was no issue for Gonzalez. The team stayed at a different hotel, and the Orange Country Register said that the reason was pretty straightforward: to reserve a block of rooms for the NLCS, the Trump International Hotel and Tower required a non-refundable deposit. Of course, the Dodgers didn’t even know if they’d need those rooms at all — it could have just as easily been the Washington Nationals in the NLCS — so they decided that making a non-refundable deposit on a bunch of rooms they might not need wasn’t a great idea.