# Congressional baseball game
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-baseball-game/1019630
**Category:** The Game Room
**Tags:** baseball-mlb
**Created:** [June 14, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-baseball-game/1019630 "2025-06-14T15:01:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@justdoit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justdoit)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-baseball-game/1019630/1 "2025-06-14T15:01:05Z")
I enjoy watching the Congressional baseball game. It’s an interesting mix of politics and sports. The history is kind of intersting also. Axios has results from 1962-2025:
[https://www.axios.com/2025/06/11/congressional-baseball-game-winners](https://www.axios.com/2025/06/11/congressional-baseball-game-winners)
Since then, Republicans have won 38 times and Democrats have won 23 times. Seems like Repubs are better at baseball overall. They won 12 of the first 13 games. Repubs won their 5th in a row last Wednesday by 13-2 score. Dems only good run was 2009 - 2019 where they won every year except a one run loss in 2016.
But it is mostly just for fun and a charity donation. Maybe this could expland to basketball and flag football games? Dems might do better in those.
This site says there has been a Congressional baseball game since 1909 but I don’t see annual results: [https://www.congressionalbaseball.org/](https://www.congressionalbaseball.org/)
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-baseball-game/1019630/2 "2025-06-14T17:10:02Z")
I wonder, did Roger Williams play? He’s a former major leaguer. Jim Bunning and Wilmer Mizell are other former major leaguers who went to Congress.
If Bunning or Mizell pitched against amateurs, I’d be surprised if they got a hit.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-baseball-game/1019630/3 "2025-06-14T17:24:53Z")
I’d actually not ever heard of the game until 2017, when a gunman attacked a practice session prior to the game, wounding four people, including Congressman Steve Scalise.
> **[Congressional baseball shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_baseball_shooting)**
>
> On June 14, 2017, a mass shooting occurred during a practice session for the annual Congressional Baseball Game in Alexandria, Virginia. 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson shot four people, including then U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, U.S. Capitol Police officer Crystal Griner, congressional aide Zack Barth, and lobbyist Matt Mika. A ten-minute shootout took place between Hodgkinson and officers from the Capitol and Alexandria Police before officers shot Hodgkinson, who died from his wo...
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2025, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-baseball-game/1019630/4 "2025-06-15T07:40:45Z")
> [@justdoit](#):
>
> Dems only good run was 2009 - 2019 where they won every year except a one run loss in 2016.
The Coach of the Democratic team most of those years was the same person, my Congressman, Martin Olav Sabo of Minnesota.
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### Author:  [@hideousidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hideousidiot)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2025, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-baseball-game/1019630/5 "2025-06-22T10:28:24Z")
It would be a more useful exercise if they would organize teams otherwise than Dems vs. Pubs. In my opinion, any other system of organization would emphasize cooperation rather than partisan divisiveness. You could divide Congress up by the best/worst attendance records, or by the most/least bills introduced, or by the alphabet, (A-L vs. M-Z), and have Dems and Pubs playing alongside each other.
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### Author:  [@justdoit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justdoit)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-baseball-game/1019630/6 "2025-06-22T13:18:58Z")
Interesting ideas. I’m sure they wouldn’t want teams done by the best/worst attendance record. That would call too much attention to those with bad attendance. Another option might be dividing it by States represented. Could have East vs West, or North vs South, or alphabetacally (A-L vs M-Z). Sort of like NBA all star game.
All of these alternate ways of doing it seem kind of boring, It would be just a bunch of Congress members got together and played baseball. That’s nice but so what? Having Dems vs Repubs is more interesting and having historical records add to it.
Let’s face it, Congress is usually partisan with the two sides battling against each other so having their sports contests the same way makes sense. However, instead of baseball would a softball game better? That requires less baseball experience and skill, seems safer, and would increase participation by women. The baseball game is mostly men.