[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14234-14235]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   REPUBLICANS DEFEAT DEMOCRATS IN ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BASEBALL GAME

  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House 
for

[[Page 14235]]

1 minute and to revise and extend my remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I so want to 
object to what happened last night and he is going to talk about it, 
but I know that comity demands that I do not object.
  I yield to my friend from Ohio.
  Mr. OXLEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. What gave it away?
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Oxley) is recognized for 1 minute.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, this is, of course, what they call the 
bragging rights, the day after the annual congressional baseball game.
  Mr. Speaker, last evening at historic Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, the 
Republican baseball team defeated the Democrats by a score of 19-10. We 
most appreciate everybody's participation. Mr. Speaker, this was the 
largest crowd in the history of this vaunted contest that goes back, in 
the modern era, some 45 years. We had almost 6,000 spectators. The 
winners in this contest were not the Republicans, really, but the 
charities that were involved that will benefit greatly. We raised about 
$125,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Washington and the Adult 
Literacy Council.
  I want to thank all of the players who participated, particularly 
Kevin Brady, the second baseman for the Republican squad, who was voted 
our MVP. Kevin has had a checkered career recently. The last two 
seasons before this, he did not last through the first inning because 
of injuries. This year he played the entire game and had a couple of 
hits and played well in the field and was voted our MVP.
  Our congratulations also go to Jay Inslee from the Evergreen State 
who played magnificently at third base for the Democrats and was 
awarded the MVP award by the manager of the Democratic team, my good 
friend, Martin Sabo, a great sportsman and a real leader.
  We enjoyed the game immensely. I want to publicly thank the gentleman 
from Maryland for hosting us for so many years up in Bowie; but we had 
an opportunity, as he knows, to move to the major league ballpark, and 
to play in a major league ballpark, I think I speak for all of our 
players, was like getting our youth back, at least for 2 or 3 hours out 
there in that contest.
  I want to thank all of the sponsors and all of the people who 
purchased tickets for this event. It was truly a great historic event 
on the Hill and one that we look forward to participating in next year.
  I will be glad to yield to my friend from Maryland.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank my friend for yielding.
  On behalf of our side, we want to congratulate the Republicans on 
their victory. I was sorely tempted to object to this whole colloquy.
  Mr. OXLEY. I would have found a way somehow to get this in.
  Mr. HOYER. It is always a terrific evening where everybody enjoys 
themselves. There is good comradeship on the field, across the party 
lines. It is good fun. The Republicans had a great game, particularly 
early on. They got way ahead of us. We tried to catch up and could not 
do it, but it was a fun evening.
  Mr. Speaker, the Bowie Bay Sox, a Double A team in the Baltimore 
Oriole organization, and the Bay Sox Stadium located in Bowie, 
Maryland, in my district, has been the host of this ball game over the 
last 6 or 7 years. It is a great little stadium, one of the best minor 
league stadiums, I think, in the country. It is a fun place to play, 
but it is approximately 25, 30 minutes from here and, with traffic, a 
longer period of time.
  As the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley), the manager of the Republican 
team, has pointed out, we had double the crowd, maybe even more than 
double the crowd, the largest crowd in our history, and the 
beneficiaries, of course, are the children and the families and the 
institutions that benefited from the contributions made by the people 
who attended and by those sponsors who generously provided resources to 
support this game.
  I want to congratulate the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley). I know on 
behalf of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Sabo), the Democratic 
manager for many, many years who is not on the floor, I want to 
congratulate him and all of our players as well. It is a fun evening. 
It is a good evening. We congratulate the winners.
  We are out recruiting very heavily. We used to recruit people who we 
thought would be good Members of Congress. We have slightly changed our 
focus. We are trying to get some good ball players. But we will work at 
it.

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