Artifacts from annual Congressional Baseball Game to be preserved at Hall of Fame

Baseball and America have grown up together, experiencing triumph and tragedy and often leaning on each other for support. June 14, 2017, was no different when the annual Congressional Baseball Game was played at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

The day before the game, a shooting at the Republican baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., which injured Rep. Steve Scalise and four others, made people question if the game would go on as planned.
But foam fingers would be waved and baseball would be played.

“The atmosphere was incredible compared to the others,” Cooperstown native and current Washington, D.C. resident Greg Brodersen said. “Most years, the biggest fan contingencies are from the official offices of participants in the game, but this year it was a game that everyone wanted to be involved with.”

Off and on since 1909, the United States Congress has played the Congressional Baseball Game benefiting various charities. It’s always been Democrats versus Republicans, played in good fun. Currently, the Democrats hold a slight lead over the Republicans with a 40-39-1 record.

The National Pastime has been played through wars, the Great Depression, after the attacks on September 11th and through countless other tragedies and times of strife. The bipartisan support for the Congressional Baseball Game has been everlasting, displaying how baseball can unite people.

In years past, some members of Congress who were not playing in the game would leave after voting was finished that day. This year, a majority of the members stayed to show solidarity.

“They usually throw politics aside for this game, but in this particular one, they went out of their way to make sure they were all one,” Bruce Brodersen, father of Greg Brodersen and Director of Audio Visual Presentations and Services at the Hall of Fame, said about the game.

Usually the game draws around 10,000 guests, but this year more than 24,000 fans attended the game. Baseball fans and former players were in attendance, rallying behind the decision to play the game.

Former Los Angeles Dodger Steve Garvey was on hand supporting the men and women playing in it.

“It’s our National Pastime.” Garvey told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “If anything is bipartisan, it’s baseball.”

While the Democrats won this year’s contest with a final score of 11-2, everyone was unified in supporting D.C. area charities. In past years, the game had raised as much as $500,000 for charity. This year the game raised over $1.5 million.