We at the PUP missed Wednesday’s Congressional Baseball Game. We’d originally intended to contact our Washington, D.C., bureau and assign one of our correspondents to cover the event, then remembered we have no bureaus. By then it was too late to dispatch a Pittsburgh reporter to D.C. via Megabus. We asked our sports editor Rick Davis for help. He rolled his eyes. So last night, those of us on the news desk bit the journalistic bullet: We grabbed a beer, opened a laptop and watched a video of the game.
At first, it seemed like a real Major League Baseball game, complete with announcers wearing fancy headsets and a half-filled stadium — more than 20,000 people attended. Once the camera focused on the players, however, we noticed most were people we usually see wearing suits and talking on cable news shows about stuff like federal budgets and appropriations.
A number of the players were younger members of Congress. One was Chris Deluzio, freshman representative from Pennsylvania’s 17th District.
“Hey!” we thought. “We know him.” Or at least one of us does — fellow striker James “Hutchie” VanLandingham traveled to Washington as Deluzio’s guest for State of the Union address in February. Deluzio started as pitcher and batted second for the Democrats, and he was wearing a Pirates uniform.
We got in touch with Deluzio via phone. He still was a bit sore from his efforts the night before. He’s a lifelong baseball fan. “It’s a game that’s very American,” he said. “It reminds us of childhood, of summers. It brings us back to simpler times.”
He said he hadn’t pitched since playing in Little League. At Bishop Canevin High School, he was a catcher.
The Congressional Baseball Game is a tradition that dates back to 1909. William Taft was president that year. Barry Goldwater was born into the world, as was Clyde Barrow (think Bonnie and Clyde). Most importantly, the Pirates won the World Series. It was the Buccos and Honus Wagner vs. Detroit and Ty Cobb. An epic battle. The first Congressional Baseball Game wasn’t as thrilling but resulted in a lot of action. The Democrats won 26-16.
These days, the game is a “rare moment of bipartisan sportsmanship,” Deluzio said. “I think it’s paramount to have moments like this, where you see people from both parties getting along for a little bit.”
Wednesday’s game did seem to be good-natured, even when Republican pitcher Greg Steube of Florida (he wore one of those red “Make America Great Again” caps, signed by former President Donald Trump) drilled Deluzio in the back with a wild pitch in the third inning. Deluzio later hit an RBI double.
On the mound, Deluzio got knocked around and was pulled in the third inning after giving up 10 runs, though they didn’t seem to be all his fault. His teammates are lawmakers, not pro ballpayers, and sometimes seemed to be filibustering instead of fielding. After leaving the mound, Deluzio moved behind the plate, where he looked more comfortable in his role as catcher. In the end, the Republicans won, 16-6.
By then, we at PUP were out of beer and our aging laptop’s battery had entered the red zone. Covering sports is difficult. From now on, the PUP news desk will leave such stories to our crack sports team. Those guys know their stuff. They don’t have to Google phrases such as “fielder’s choice.”
Oh, before we forget: Wednesday’s game raised a lot of money for charitable organizations — the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, the Washington Literacy Center, and Nationals Philanthropies.
Steve is a photojournalist and writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he is currently on strike and working as a Union Progress co-editor. Reach him at smellon@unionprogress.com.