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Power players or baseball players? The history behind the Congressional Baseball Game
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Washington is stocked with power players. The president. White House officials. Cabinet secretaries. U.S. Representatives. Senators. Powerful aides. Lobbyists. Journalists.
But how about baseball players?
Democrats and Republicans convene Wednesday night at Nats Park just blocks from the Capitol for the annual Congressional game.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: LAWMAKERS TAKE TO THE FIELD IN STRANGE SPECTACLE OF ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BASEBALL GAME
Since 1909, Democrats and Republicans have traded in conference committees for mound visits.
The Congressional Record for scorecards.
And parliamentarians for umpires.
Republicans are looking to keep their winning streak alive at this year’s Congressional Baseball Game. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, is a former Atlanta Braves farmhand. He gets his squad out on the practice diamond nearly every morning when lawmakers are in session at 5:45.
«We’ve been working out since March 1,» said Williams. «I think we’re as good as we were last year.»
However, he noted that springtime rain limited practice time. And, an injury might beset the GOP squad.
House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Blake Moore, R-Utah, started in center field for Republicans last year. Moore is one of the best overall athletes for either team. Moore won the high school Heisman Trophy in 1997. However, Moore injured his collar bone diving to make a save as a goalie in the Congressional soccer game a few weeks ago.
Yes, there’s a Congressional soccer game, too. And flag football game. And basketball game. And hockey game.
And voters sometimes wonder why nothing ever gets done in Washington?
UNDER THE DOME AND ON THE DIAMOND
Anyway, Moore says his clavicle has healed. Ironically, he can golf. But can’t play baseball. And can’t reach up to put away the dishes in the cupboard after dinner.
«That goes over really well with my wife,» said Moore.
A penalty for playing soccer?
«I fined him $500,» said Williams – we believe jokingly.
Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, coaches his party’s baseball team. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Texas, played right field last year. He moves to center field in place of Moore Wednesday night. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., patrols right field for Republicans.
Stutzman returned to Congress this year after an eight-year hiatus. Stutzman played in six games before, hitting .083. Stutzman used to pitch for the GOP. But his services out of the bullpen probably aren’t necessary. After all, Stutzman might not match up to other Hoosier State hurlers like Tommy John and Don Larsen. On the mound, Stutzman sports an 0-2 record with a 14.44 ERA in the Congressional contest.
That said, Williams does have a potential newcomer who can throw: Freshman Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., is a rookie and a fireballer.
«He’s my Ryne Duren,» said Williams of Harrigan.
To the uninitiated, Duren was a flamethrowing all-star in the 1950s and ‘60s – mostly with the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds. Duren wore Coke-bottle glasses. The line «Oh say can you see» during «The Star-Spangled Banner» took on a little more meaning for opposing hitters when Duren was on the mound with his fastball.
Williams says Harrigan can bring it. But his control needs work.
THE TRAGEDY OF PETER EDWARD ROSE
Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., enters her third year as the Democrats’ skipper. She’s the first woman to manage the team.
Women first played in the game in 1993. Former Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., along with former Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and current Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., broke the gender barrier. Both Lincoln and Cantwell played as House Members. Sanchez appeared in 11 games and is one of the best women to suit up. She hit .455, going 5-11 with two walks.
Sanchez bleeds Dodger blue. She historically wears a Fernando Valenzuela jersey while managing. Valenzuela was one of the most iconic Dodgers of all time, capturing the 1981 Cy Young Award with his screwball as «Fernandomania» seized southern California. Valenzuela died last fall.
Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., coaches the Democrats. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
But Sanchez used to pull for the «California» Angels – now the Los Angeles Angels. Sanchez switched her allegiance from the Halos to the Dodgers after the Angels let Nolan Ryan escape to the Houston Astros in late 1979.
One wonders how Sanchez would have felt if she were a New York Mets fan back when they traded Ryan to the Angels?
TRUMP’S SPENDING BILL HEADS TO SENATE WHERE REPUBLICANS PLAN STRATEGIC ADJUSTMENTS TO KEY PROVISIONS
Sanchez’s success at the plate hasn’t followed her into the Democrats’ dugout. Republicans have captured the last four contests – including the two which Sanchez managed. Republicans pounded the Democrats last year, 31-11. The GOP topped the Democrats 16-6 in 2023. There was no game in 2020 due to the pandemic. So the Democrats haven’t won since 2019. Republicans hold a 38-23 advantage in the «modern» era of the game. They began playing the Congressional game in 1909. But late House Speaker Sam Rayburn, D-Texas, halted the game because it became too violent.
There was a legendary collision at home plate in the 1956 game. Late Rep. Charles Curtis, R-Mo., was catching for the GOP. Rep. Olin «Tiger» Teague, D-Texas, steamrolled Curtis at the plate. Teague is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. But Teague buried Curtis at home in that game. Orderlies hauled Curtis off the old Griffith Stadium field on a stretcher.
Lawmakers resumed the game in 1962.
With her party hemorrhaging talent on the mound in recent years, Sanchez may be buoyed by an influx of freshmen – like Rep. John Mannion, D-N.Y. – in this year’s showdown. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Sanchez is buoyed by at least four new freshmen – or rookies – on her club. Reps. Dave Min, D-Calif., Derek Tran, D-Calif., John Mannion, D-N.Y., and Johnny Olszewski, D-Md.
«Our principal weakness has been not a lot of depth to our bullpen. And this year we’ve got a couple of freshmen that can throw. So we’re hoping that with those additions, we can do a lot better this year,» said Sanchez.
Expect Mannion to work in relief.
REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS STAND FIRM AGAINST MUSK’S ‘KILL THE BILL’ ASSAULT ON TRUMP’S AGENDA
Like most Major League clubs, the Democrats need pitching.
«We had a great run for a little while when Cedric Richmond was on the mound,» said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., who pitches, catches and plays infield for the Democrats.
Former Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., is one of the greatest players in Congressional Baseball Game history. He pitched in college. He threw 80-mph-plus to stymie fellow lawmakers. Richmond boasted an 8-0 record and a miniscule 2.64 ERA.
But Richmond left Congress to work for former President Biden in 2021. The Democrats haven’t been formidable since.
Former Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., was one of the best baseball players to have ever seen the halls of Congress. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)
Heading into Wednesday’s contest, Sanchez teased that her goal with the Republicans in the game is «making them cry.»
«But we come together and do something good for the area,» added Sanchez, noting the $2 million the game raises for children’s charities in the DC area.
But she concedes, «there’s always trash talk.»
HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH FOR SPENDING CANCELLATIONS AS ELON MUSK AND CONSERVATIVES DEMAND DEEPER BUDGET CUTS
So Democrats try to escape from their slump. The Democrats haven’t won under Sanchez. But they’re oh-fer since House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., took over in 2023.
«It’s my expectation that the Democratic comeback is going to begin in 2025 at the Congressional Baseball Game,» said Jeffries last week.
But the Brooklyn Democrat said the same thing two years ago.
«I think this is the year for the big, Democratic comeback,» said Jeffries in June 2023.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has been hinging on a Democratic comeback for years. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
So, I questioned Jeffries in the Capitol corridors late last week.
«You realize since you’ve been the Minority Leader that the Republicans have defeated the Democrats by a combined score of 47 to 1?» asked yours truly.
«I also realize that my record as an active member of the Congressional Baseball Game team, I believe, was 9-1,» replied Jeffries.
But is that because of Jeffries? Or Cedric Richmond?
Statistics are paramount in baseball. Whether you’re scoring at home. Or using the Congressional Budget Office. Jeffries is 1-6 hitting in his nine games on the Democratic squad. That’s good for a .167 average. Well below the Mendoza Line. But he did swipe seven bases.
And this year, Democrats will again try to steal a win against a talented Republican club.
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Gametime at 7pm ET on FS1 Wednesday. Yours truly will be on the call alongside colleague Kevin Corke.
Israel releases video of airstrikes in Iran
Israel Defense Forces released video it says shows its strikes against Iranian soldiers who were arming missile launchers in Western Iran to fire at the Jewish State. (Credit: IDF)
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President Donald Trump’s announcement Saturday that the U.S. military began a major combat operation in Iran was met with immediate questions about whether the president improperly bypassed Congress, which has the sole authority to declare war under the Constitution.
Trump characterized the joint operation with Israel to take out Iranian leaders and eliminate its weapons supply as an act of «war,» bringing into focus the 1973 War Powers Resolution and the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. Experts say those laws and court precedent have given Trump the authority to sidestep the legislative branch and attack Iran, for now.
«The courts have allowed presidents to order such attacks unilaterally. … There has historically been deference to presidents exercising such judgments under the [War Powers Resolution’s] vague standard,» George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley wrote in an op-ed. «That was certainly the case with the attacks in Bosnia and Libya under Democratic presidents.»
A screen grab from a video the White House released showing President Donald Trump making statements regarding combat operations on Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, in Palm Beach, Florida. (US President Trump Via Truth Social/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The War Powers Resolution requires the president to consult Congress within 48 hours of a military offensive and cease actions within 60 days if Congress has not voted in support of them. Turley noted that Congress could still assert control over what the Pentagon is calling «Operation Epic Fury» sooner if it wanted to.
«Congress can seek to bar or limit operations in the coming days,» Turley wrote. «Given the fluid events, many members are likely to wait to watch the initial results and, frankly, the polling on the attacks. … The longer the operation continues, the calls for congressional action will likely increase.»
Former State Department official Gabriel Noronha, who advised on Iran, said in a lengthy X post that Congress has already authorized Trump’s actions under the AUMF because Iran is «the headquarters of al Qaeda.» Noronha said that, unlike other iterations of the AUMF, the 2001 version of the law was never repealed and «expressly authorizes force against any nation, organization, or person that planned the 9/11 attacks ‘or harbored such organizations or persons.’»
«Congress has had 25 years to limit the scope of the 2001 AUMF,» Noronha wrote. «Instead, it has consciously decided to preserve the President’s rights under the law to pursue international terrorists to the end of the earth.»
Congressional leadership pictured alongside each other; Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and John Thune, R-S.D., on the left and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on the right (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Evan Vucci/AP Photo )
Trump said in a statement early Saturday morning that Operation Epic Fury was a «noble mission» and that service members could be killed, explicitly using the term «war.»
«The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,» Trump said.
Some have suggested that in planning the operation, Israel and the United States deliberately delegated responsibilities to avoid legal landmines.
A U.S. official told Fox News that the Israeli military is targeting Iranian leadership, while the United States is targeting missile sites that pose an «imminent threat,» rather than Iran’s leadership. Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli Air Force general, also told Fox News that Israel carried out a strike on Iran’s leadership because of decades-old U.S. laws restricting the targeting of heads of state.
AMERICA STRIKES IRAN AGAIN — HAS WASHINGTON PLANNED FOR WHAT COMES NEXT?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Avi Ohayon / GPO)
The White House, meanwhile, has made clear that it factored Congress into the planning. Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed the «Gang of 8,» which comprises the Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress and the top lawmakers on the intelligence committees, ahead of the action. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Rubio called the Gang of 8 members and gave them a heads-up on timing and connected with all but one of them. Once the strikes began Saturday morning, the Pentagon also briefed the Armed Services committees.
Republican lawmakers have largely reacted with support for Trump, while Democrats have been critical. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement that short of «exigent circumstances,» Trump needs Congress to authorize an «act of war.»
«The Trump administration must explain itself to the American people and Congress immediately, provide an ironclad justification for this act of war, clearly define the national security objective and articulate a plan to avoid another costly, prolonged military quagmire in the Middle East,» Jeffries said.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., commended the president, citing Iran’s «relentless nuclear ambitions» and refusal to engage in diplomacy.
Some non-interventionist GOP lawmakers spoke out against the actions. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the Constitution gave Congress the power to authorize war «for a reason, to make war less likely.»
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Paul quoted President James Madison: «The Executive Branch is the branch most prone to war, therefore, the Constitution, with studied care, delegated the war power to the legislature.»
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said they are planning a forthcoming vote on a war powers resolution that would block U.S. action in Iran without congressional approval. Previous attempts to pass the same bill failed this Congress after Trump launched targeted strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Fox News’ Jen Griffin and Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.
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war with iran,donald trump,judiciary,congress,israel
INTERNACIONAL
Bajo el estruendo de las alarmas y en pánico por las represalias de Irán, los israelíes corrieron a encerrarse en los refugios
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dead after IDF strike hits Tehran compound, Israeli source confirms
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Iran’s militant and unyielding supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic for more than three decades and oversaw an era of harsh internal repression and confrontation with the United States and Israel, has died following the Israeli strike in Tehran, as his compound was reduced to rubble, a senior Israeli official told Fox News Digital.
«Khamenei was the contemporary Middle East’s longest-serving autocrat. He did not get to be that way by being a gambler. Khamenei was an ideologue, but one who ruthlessly pursued the preservation and protection of his ideology, often taking two steps forward and one step back,» Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD’s Iran program, told Fox News Digital.
«Khamenei’s worldview was shaped by his militant anti-Americanism and antisemitism, which first manifested itself in his protests against the Shah of Iran,» he added.
View of Iranian President Ali Khamenei during a welcoming ceremony for his State Visit, Beijing, China, May 11, 1989. ( Forrest Anderson/Getty Images)
Born April 19, 1939, in Mashhad, eastern Iran, Khamenei was among the Islamist activists who played a central role in the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. A close ally of Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Khamenei rose through the new system and served as president from 1981 to 1989 before becoming supreme leader after Khomeini’s death that same year.
Decades in power, Khamenei consolidated control over Iran’s political and security system, presiding over repeated crackdowns on dissent and maintaining a hardline posture toward Washington and Jerusalem.
«Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule has been marked by unrelenting brutality and repression, both within Iran and beyond its borders,» said Lisa Daftari, an expert on Iran and editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk. She pointed to executions and the enforcement of strict social controls as defining features of the system under Khamenei’s leadership.
His ultra-conservative style of leadership did face challenges, however. In 2009, following disputed elections in which Khamenei declared victory for the incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, massive protests erupted across the country.
TRUMP TELLS IRANIANS THE ‘HOUR OF YOUR FREEDOM IS AT HAND’ AS US-ISRAEL LAUNCH STRIKES AGAINST IRAN
In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, Iranians protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran, Oct. 1, 2022. (The Associated Press)
Mass demonstrations also broke out in 2022 after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died while detained by the morality police for allegedly wearing her headscarf improperly. The protests were brutally put down, with many of those arrested and put to death by his regime.
In late December, Iran was again rocked by protests and a fierce brutal security response. According to an Iran International investigation, as many as 30,000 people may have been killed across two days, Jan. 8 to 9, 2026.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (L) meets the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei during his visit in Tehran, Iran on Oct. 22, 2016. (Pool / Supreme Leader Press Office/Anadolu Agency/Getty Image)
International monitors and rights groups have repeatedly documented high execution numbers in Iran in recent years as well. Amnesty International said Iranian authorities executed more than 1,000 people in 2025, calling it the highest yearly figure the organization recorded in at least 15 years. Separately, a U.N. report said Iran executed at least 975 people in 2024, the highest number since 2015.
WORLD LEADERS SPLIT OVER MILITARY ACTION AS US-ISRAEL STRIKE IRAN IN COORDINATED OPERATION
Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran on Jan. 9, 2026. (MAHSA / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)
Across the region, Khamenei invested heavily in Iran’s network of allied militias and armed groups, a strategy used to project Iranian power beyond its borders. From the West Bank and Gaza, where he backed terror groups such as Hamas, to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi extremists in Yemen, as well as other militant militias in Iraq, Iran under Khamenei’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the terror groups.
However, his prized proxies, as well as the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, collapsed under Israeli military pressure following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. During a 12-day war in June 2025, Israel also succeeded in taking out some of Khamenei’s closest aides and senior security figures, leaving the long-serving leader significantly weakened.
Yet analysts argue that Khamenei’s most enduring legacy may be the institutional machinery he built at home to safeguard the system.
GULF STATES CONDEMN IRANIAN RETALIATORY STRIKES ON THEIR TERRITORIES FOLLOWING US-ISRAELI OPERATION
Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei makes first public appearance in weeks with fresh U.S. threats. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Credit/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
A recent report by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), authored by Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi, describes the Bayt, the Office of the Supreme Leader, as a parallel structure embedded across Iran’s military, economy, religious institutions and bureaucracy.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Aarabi said, «It is the hidden nerve center of the regime in Iran… it operates as a state within a state.» He argued that even Khamenei’s removal would not necessarily dismantle the system. «Even if he is eliminated, the Bayt as an institution enables the Supreme Leader to function,» Aarabi said, adding, «Think of the Supreme Leader as an institution rather than just a single individual.»
Aarabi also warned that «eliminating Khamenei in isolation on its own is not enough,» calling for a broader strategy aimed at the wider apparatus surrounding the supreme leader. «You have to dismantle this extensive apparatus that he has created,» he said.
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«Unlike Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei institutionalized his power. Today, the Islamic Republic is more a product of Khamenei than Khomeini,» FDD’s Ben Taleblu added.
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ali khamenei,war with iran,iran,terrorism
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