CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — Hundreds of thousands of revelers poured into Houston’s streets Friday to celebrate the baseball team’s first-ever World Series title win, just two months after America’s fourth-largest city was hit with historic floods.
The celebration was tinged with uncertainty, as the team said it had not decided about a potential White House visit, considering its controversial occupant.
Such a visit is traditional for a championship team, but President Donald Trump has had a testy relationship with sports figures, including calling for the firing of protesting American football players who kneel during the national anthem.
Trump also disinvited this year’s NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, when players hesitated over a visit.
As the Astros celebrated their win, countless fans lined the streets — many clad in the team colors of orange, navy blue and white.
“What comes out of this moving forward on the political side, what we do or don’t do, what sports has turned into representing the country’s tone, will have to be decided in time,” team manager AJ Hinch told reporters.
“We’re not going to allow anything to polarize this moment that we want to celebrate with our fans.”
‘Meant to be’
The Astros won the coveted Major League Baseball championship title Wednesday, in a 5-1 triumph over the Los Angeles Dodgers, bringing home a World Series trophy for the first time since the team’s inception in 1962.
The games in the best-of-seven series featured dramatic swings of momentum between the two teams and breathtaking rallies — energizing the Texas city still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Harvey.
Two months ago, Harvey brought record-setting flooding to Houston, killing 88 people and submerging vast swaths of land. Every waterway overflowed in the area’s intricate network of natural drainage into the Gulf of Mexico.
Many Harvey victims are still working to return to normalcy. Their damaged or destroyed homes and belongings have not yet been replaced or rebuilt.
“This is meant to be,” Harvey victim Joe Eaton Jr told local television station KHOU. “We are all champions now. We are rooting for one thing.”
So many turned out for the celebration that public transportation was overwhelmed. There were reports of long lines for train and bus service to downtown — with some unable to reach the parade in time.
Friday became an unofficial city holiday, with many taking the day off work and the school district even canceling classes for the afternoon parade and rally at the city hall.
The festive parade snaked through downtown streets with floats, politicians waving at crowds and the University of Houston marching band blasting music. One group marched with giant inflated baseballs.
The headliners were the Astros team, lifting the World Series trophy as loud adulation accompanied their ride atop fire trucks and double-decker buses while confetti rained down upon them.
At the exuberant rally following the parade, Mayor Sylvester Turner alluded to the city’s recent travails and the importance of the championship victory.
“When the city needed a pickup, when the city needed someone to elevate us to another level, the Houston Astros stepped in,” Turner said.
© Agence France-Presse
