Following nearly a weeklong stalemate in the House and turmoil within the GOP, federal lawmakers came together for a game of baseball Wednesday at Nationals Park.
Under the watchful eyes of more than 20,000 constituents, Republicans took the game for the third year in a row by 10 runs. When the final score of 16-6 was announced after seven innings, the red side of the stadium erupted.
A few blue hopefuls packed up on the other side of the stadium. While Dems didn’t win the game, team players still brought home a victory when Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) stepped up to the plate.
The congressional baseball game began in 1909, and lawmakers have played intermittently since then, but no Black woman has played on the Democrats’ team until Wednesday evening, when Crockett went up to bat in the fifth inning.
“I’m playing today for all the little Black girls with big dreams — whether those dreams are on the baseball field or in the halls of Congress,” Crockett said in a statement to CNN prior to the game. “I want to show those girls that if I can do it, they can do it — and probably a lot better.”
The game raised more than $1.5 million for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, the Washington Literacy Center and the Washington Nationals Philanthropies.
A portion of those funds will also go to the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund in gratitude to the officers who responded to a shooting at a Republican practice in 2017. The shooting, which was reclassified later as domestic terrorism by a left-wing extremist, left House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) seriously wounded and four others injured.
Six years later, GOP colleagues say they still come out to the field because of him.
“I’m here because of Scalise’s shooting,” Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) told The Hill. “I hadn’t played up until that point, and I knew that I needed to get out there. We couldn’t let people like that win.”
Two impressive catches in the outfield from Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.) won the 53-year-old lawmaker the title of defensive MVP for the Democratic team.
The Republicans took a 4-2 lead through two innings, and they broke things open in the third, scoring seven more runs before being met with chants of “U.S.A.” from supporters in the stand.
With almost all the legislators above the average age of professional baseball players, age was a topic of conversation on the field.
“We’re stacked. We’ve got some incredible ball players. I’m 58, these guys are in their 30s. I pull something running to the mailbox,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), boasted of his team.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) poked fun at himself instead, saying he wasn’t as thrilled to play catcher for his team at his age.
“Word on the street was that the Democratic side for annual congressional baseball game had finally found a younger, better catcher,” he tweeted. “But I was misled. Pushing 50 w a metal screw in my knee, I’m suiting up again tonight. Ugh.”
Per tradition, the game ended after seven innings instead of the MLB’s standard nine. After celebrating their win, the GOP cordially shook hands with the Democrats in the diamond.
“[We] fight on the Capitol for the things we believe in, we have big differences in our country, but at the same time, we do come together for a really good cause tonight,” Scalise told Fox News.
Georgena Mierow contributed.