The Congressional baseball game…What a night!
June 30th, 2006 by Districtblogger
While I usually prefer to stay in my own little piece of Heaven called South Georgia, I do make the occasional trip to the “home office” in DC to do a few things. This time, I planned my trip to coincide with an annual event called “The Congressional Baseball Game.”
Believe it or not, Members of Congress actually field teams - of course, Republican vs. Democrat - and play baseball. Not slow pitch softball, but real fast pitch baseball on the big diamond at RFK Stadium in Washington. It’s for Members only, no staff ringers, and they take it very seriously. You have to have skills to play and you better bring your “A” game.
Fortunately for Jack, he keeps himself in good shape - running, bicycling - so he is a natural for the team. The GOP counts on his “wheels” to run the bases and they put him in to do just that. And that is what he did. In the 3rd inning, the Dems were up 1-0. Jack hit the basepaths and once he got to third, all it took was a short pop-fly to make him tag up and dig for home, easily beating the throw. In the 5th, Jack was on base again when Mike Conaway hit a single to bring him in. At the plate in the 6th inning, Jack worked an 0-2 count into a base on balls where he promptly sped to second and then third on a wild pitch.
The final result: Republicans 12 Democrats 1
That makes four in a row for the GOP and 11 of the last 13.
What really made it fun were the Kingston Crew holding up signs and cheering the entire time. They really inspired the crowd and even Rep. Roger Wicker was holding up a sign for a while. This seemed to inspire the GOP team as they held the Dems scoreless after the 1st inning. The play of the game though, came on a foul pop to the catcher who bobbled it. Then, looking like a real major leaguer, John Shimkus dove and snatched the ball out of thin air just before it hit the ground. The crowd still cheered as the image was replayed on the big screen above the stadium.
Of course, the whole thing was for charity and more than $100,000 was raised for Washington DC children. Roll Call sponsors the baseball game.