Politicians from the both sides of the aisle participated in the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity in the wake of a shooting targeted at the Republican’s final practice last Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Va. A Washington, D.C.-based political and news publication called The Hill streamed the game on Facebook Live, which to date has received nearly six million views, 14,000 comments and 13,000 shares.
In spite of the tragic event — which saw the majority whip of the House of Representatives Steve Scalise sustain extensive injuries — the Republicans and Democrats still convened on Thursday night at Nationals Park. Facebook Live viewers also witnessed Capitol Police officer David Bailey throw out the ceremonial first pitch alongside MLB executive and ex-New York Yankees manager Joe Torre. Bailey was one of the first responders to Wednesday’s early morning shootout as he was part of the Republican congressman Scalise’s security detail.
The Democrats defeated the Republicans 11-2 to give the political party a 40-39-1 record in the series, just one more win than the GOP. A record 25,000 tickets were sold to the event while $1 million was raised for charity.
In the weeks leading up to the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity, the GOP also streamed parts of a scrimmage on Facebook Live, with U.S. Republican Congressman Roger Marshall (1st district, Kansas) interviewing fellow politicians, Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky) and even ex-MLB pitcher and former Texas Rangers coach Larry Hardy, who spent time with the club from 1995-2001.
Marshall, who referenced the live stream as FaceTime and FaceTime Live a few times, asked Paul in particular what would be the secret to defeating the Democrats. The question gave the 54-year-old Paul an opportunity to take a veiled shot at the Democratic party.
“Well, you know Democrats like regulations, and so what I’ve been proposing is a new regulation for the baseball game is that their best pitcher (U.S. Congressman) Cedric Richmond (2nd district, Los Angeles) can only pitch two innings,” Paul said. “I think it should be about fair outcomes, and it really shouldn’t matter if one player is better than the other. We should shoot for everyone being equal, the same outcome for everyone no matter how hard you try, how obese you are, how poor of a player you are.”
