Vanderbilt baseball didn't skip Trump's White House visit because of politics, coach Tim Corbin says

Adam Sparks | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Vanderbilt baseball's patriotic uniforms about hope, tribute, diversity Vanderbilt baseball debuted its new patriotic uniforms on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019. Here is why coach Tim Corbin wanted his players to wear them.

Vanderbilt baseball’s 2019 national championship team declined an invitation to the White House because of a scheduling conflict and not politics, coach Tim Corbin said.

He said a “Trump” Vanderbilt jersey was even created for such a visit.

“It had nothing to do with politics,” Corbin said. “It was just tough to turn around. No one is shunning anything. That’s for sure.”

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Vanderbilt declined an invitation to visit President Donald Trump, the Washington Post first reported. Instead, the Oregon State baseball team, the 2018 national champion, went to the White House in the Commodores’ place.

Vanderbilt is the latest championship team to decline an invitation to the White House during Trump’s presidency. But Corbin said the date conflicted with long-standing holiday travel plans by players.

'We had two jerseys made up for two Presidents'

Corbin said the invitation was to join other NCAA title teams at the White House's "College Champions Event" on Nov. 22, the date when players routinely travel to their homes for Thanksgiving break. Vanderbilt students are off for one full week for Thanksgiving, so baseball players leave Nashville no later than Nov. 22, depending on their class schedules in the preceding week.

Most of Vanderbilt’s players are from out of state. On the current roster, only seven of 35 players are from Tennessee.

“We wanted to go, but the date that we were told that we were invited, we couldn’t work it out,” Corbin said. “It was right on top of us. (The invitation) was (given) within a month, and it’s tough to turn around 35 to 50 bodies (including coaches and support staff) of travel when things have been in place for three months.

“Our players always go home during that time.”

This was Vanderbilt’s second national championship. In 2014, the Commodores hoped to visit President Barack Obama, but an invitation never came. That year, Vanderbilt had a jersey made for Obama just in case. Corbin said the same was done for Trump this year.

“We would have loved to have gone. That was something that we wanted to do back in 2014,” Corbin said. “We had two jerseys made up for two Presidents.”

Corbin, Vanderbilt baseball known for patriotism

Declining the invitation, regardless of the reason, has drawn unfamiliar criticism for Corbin and Vanderbilt baseball, which carries a reputation as a patriotic program.

Corbin pays special attention to how his players stand uniformly at attention during the national anthem. His team rehearses it every preseason. And Corbin's youth baseball camps often include a period when he shows kids how his team lines up during the anthem.

Corbin has made patriotic-themed uniforms a staple of Vanderbilt baseball since 2009. In 2014, the Commodores wore red-white-and-blue uniforms at College World Series games en route to winning the national championship.

This season the Commodores wore olive green military-themed uniforms every Sunday, when they honored veterans as their Salute to Service Day at Hawkins Field.

“There is a reason for doing this, and it’s not just to be different from everyone else,” Corbin said in February, when Vanderbilt debuted its military-themed uniforms. “Before we are Vanderbilt, we are U.S. citizens."

Corbin's father was in the Army, and his admiration for military service is well known among Vanderbilt fans.

In 2013, Corbin received a delivery of an American flag, a certificate of validation and a heart-felt letter from a Vanderbilt fan whom he’s never met. Jonathan Freudenthal, an Army Reserve sergeant first class with Special Operations Command, retrieved the flag flown over his unit’s headquarters in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and sent it to Corbin.

Corbin had the flag framed and mounted on the wall in his office, hanging just above a photo of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

Reach Adam Sparks at asparks@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.