Steve Scalise Records First Out as He Returns to Field on Anniversary of Shooting

WASHINGTON — It was the first play of the congressional baseball game Thursday at Nationals Park, and one of their own had been forced out at first. Still, the Democrats were on their feet cheering.

In a moment that simply could not be made up, Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., sent a grounder to the right side of the infield that was tracked down by none other than Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.

The significance of the play was not lost on the elated crowd: Exactly one year ago, a gunman had opened fire on the Republican congressional team during its practice in Alexandria, Virginia, wounding four people, including Scalise.

Scalise, who suffered severe bleeding and damage to his organs, walked onto the field Thursday night with a crutch. He was stepping in for Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, as the starting second baseman.

“He should feel demoralized that a guy that was literally in the hospital having surgeries about six weeks ago beat him out for the starting gig,” Scalise, whose movement is still limited, said minutes before the game began.

As Scalise recorded the first out, the crowd, which had earlier in the evening paid tribute to him, leapt to its feet and roared with respect. It was a brief but welcome moment of bipartisanship, the kind this tradition is intended to evoke.

“We’re feeling on top of the world,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who was on the field last year during the shooting.

Although the political atmosphere in Washington is increasingly fractious and partisan, the grand stage of Nationals Park allowed for the emergence of across-the-aisle gentility.

Case in point: When a fan sitting near the Democrats’ dugout called out to Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., to ask him to sign his program, Brooks was happy to oblige.

“There you go; you can use it as a dart board now,” Brooks joked.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, some thought, or maybe just hoped, that the trauma could give way to lasting unity and empathy — that the experience of living through an event that has become as quintessentially American as the pastime they were reveling in could change the political climate of Washington.

Those hopes did not last long.

Facing uncertain prospects in this fall’s midterm elections, congressional Republicans have retired in droves; nearly 1 in 4 players on the baseball team will not seek re-election.

What did Scalise think about the exodus of his colleagues?

“I say we go and recruit some really good conservatives,” he said, mentioning former major league pitcher Curt Schilling. “Strengthen our numbers and have the ability to pass more good bills on the floor.”

But Thursday, hometown jerseys and game faces donned, the players showed little interest in talking politics.

Rep. Ryan A. Costello, R-Pa., said that while the terror and surrealness of last year’s shooting had “largely washed off,” the game’s political relevance was largely overstated.

“We impute a lot of importance to it because there’s pride, and we get to pretend we’re 15 years old again,” Costello said.

But the Democrats won, 21-5.

“You know you still got to go and compete, right?” Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, said when asked how much a win would have meant to Republicans. “And hopefully this will translate into the elections for us.”

Over the clatter of bats, more than 16,000 spectators cheered and jeered as they watched their legislators sprint and tumble across the field in the charity event. It was a typical Washington crowd: The sea of attendees dressed in blue and red was studded with suits and interns straight off Capitol Hill.

But for Brooks — who was on the receiving end of Scalise’s throw, and most likely the rest of the crowd — the image that will stand out this year, and for years to come, is of Scalise fielding that first ground ball just a few minutes before he retired from the game to a standing ovation.

“It could not have been scripted by Hollywood,” Brooks said.