On June 11, 2025, US Congressional Democrats and Republicans will square off against one another testing their political will, challenging their physical endurance, and settling once again the time-honored question of egoists everywhere; who’s still got it? The field of battle is Nationals Park in Washington, DC, home to Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals. The offensive weapons of choice are long wooden sticks and, for defense, leather hand-coverings. The objects of contention are a horsehide covered sphere and the state of the Union.
Just about every year since 1909, Democrats and Republicans have engaged in this Congressional Baseball Game. As I have hinted in my opening, there is much more at stake than a baseball game because any time these folks get together, sparks are certain to fly. This annual convergence of baseball and politics is the subject of The House Divided: The Story of the First Congressional Baseball Game (2025) by J.B. Manheim.
As “[a]n expert in strategic communication in politics,” Manheim is Professor Emeritus at George Washington University, so we can all take heart that at least a few thoughtful and educated people are still fighting the good fight; in this case, the fight to bring us all together.
Understanding the context and origins of this CBG1, as Manheim refers to it, requires a little background. First, baseball gained popularity during and after the American Civil War. The first professional baseball team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings that formed in 1869. The National League was formed in 1876 and the American League in 1901. The champs of each of these leagues played in the first World Series in 1903. By the time of CBG1, baseball had long been referred to as the National Pastime.
Of course the major leagues were exclusively white so, in 1909, we still had a little more unifying to do. Note though, that it was in 1947, seven years before Brown v. Board of Education banned segregation in public spaces, that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. This is Part One of Manheim’s argument, the unifying aspect of baseball.
Baseball in America has always been about so much more than a game; it often serves as a cultural canvas upon which our national stories have been told; often in terms of the larger world and the personal world beyond the game… including those I have told myself.*
The first decade of the twentieth century is often seen as the beginning of the modern era in baseball. It is no coincidence then that this period was also witness to the birth of the modern presidency and in turn, the very purpose of our federal government. This is Part Two of Manheim’s argument.
As we are witnessing today, revolutionizing the presidency seems to require a singular individual who defies what has come before. The face of this early twentieth century transformation is President Theodore Roosevelt and history’s verdict, despite a few obvious warts, is that TR moved us all forward (history has yet to fully comment upon the current transformation of the presidency).
By the time he left office in 1909, the year of CBG1, Teddy Roosevelt had initiated the notion that the president could use his voice and personality to great effect atop the “bully pulpit.”
As Americans cheered for their favorite baseball team in a life peppered with recreation like never before, the US government steered its power toward serving the interests of the people. This becomes most evident in TR’s establishment of the Food and Drug Administration and his successful effort to destroy trusts and monopolies while providing support for striking workers and their right to join unions. He also had in mind the rights of future generations of Americans as he used federal power to conserve lands in the West from being despoiled by industrialization and urbanization.
TR oversaw America as a World Power spreading its influence following the Spanish-American War in 1898. In 1904, his Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 reminded European powers that their colonial claims in the Western Hemisphere were over. America also projected its influence well into the Pacific Ocean. By the dawn of the twentieth century, two massive oceans separated the country from European and Asian rivals.
To make certain the rest of the world understood America’s new role in the world, Roosevelt demonstrated to the country’s vast naval power by sending an armada of battleships around the world. Over the course of 14 months, this Great White Fleet—the ships’ hulls were painted white—circumnavigated the globe while visiting ports of call on six continents.
The year of the first Congressional Baseball Game, 1909, was replete with other displays of America’s burgeoning hegemony. The first transcontinental automobile race demonstrated the versatility of several new automobiles —including Henry Ford’s Model T—and the need for roads and highways.
The Great White Fleet returned home in February, 1909. The US Army purchased its first military aeroplane, the Wright Flyer. The Navy established a base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Explorer Robert Peary reached the North Pole and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded.
In the 1909 world of baseball, the first steel and concrete baseball stadiums were constructed because wooden bleachers were susceptible to fire. Ty Cobb’s Detroit Tigers faced off against Honus Wagner and the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. The
American Tobacco Company, as Manheim records, “released the first two sets of baseball cards… T206 cards, the most prized cards among present-day collectors, as free premiums in boxes of cigarettes.”
As William Howard Taft took office only a few months before CBG1, the political battles of the day focused on nothing less than the manner in which the federal government funds its activities. Tariffs, a tax on imported goods, had long been a primary source of this income yet, the manner in which tariffs are imposed, as we have all become aware, were rife with political implications. Add to this environment the proposal to amend the Constitution to permit an individual income tax and the political possibilities directly touch every American household and, consequently, every member of the House of Representatives.
In organizing CBG1, Manheim offers that it was in this context that members of Congress were able to secretly work out their differences. “CBG1,” he argues “was part of a deadly serious political struggle over what until recently we would have come to regard as an obscure issue, the tariffs set by the United States on international trade, that in the end had impacts on the way that Congress does business and on the citizens that business is presumed to serve, both of which redound to this very day.”
He adds that this “was a struggle that contained all the basics of a sordid political drama: unnumbered special interests, sectionalism, ideological clashes, an abundance of devilish details to fight over, uncertain outcomes, resentment, boredom, personal bitterness, intense partisanship, cleverness, and cynicism…” And if that doesn’t sound enough like our current state of affairs in 2025, Manheim adds that the entire business was “presided over by a tyrannical leader with an agenda.” Hhmm?
As to the upcoming game in June of 2025, a quick glance at the rosters indicates that very few of the political firebrands from the left or right seem to be playing. I’ll interpret this as a good sign because it seems that the only way the political temperature is going to come down in this country is if some type of centrist way of thinking takes hold.
In this, Manheim offers hope for us. “Baseball has always served as a unifying force,” he shares, “one capable of overcoming even the most fundamental partisan and political disagreements and bridging the differences between the most ardent partisans through their shared love of the game.”
To reinforce this unifying spirit, Manheim often writes in the first person plural, speaking of “us” and “we” indicating that we are all in this together. And, unless you’ve made plans to escape, I suppose we all are. For me, I haven’t yet updated my passport… but I have found my current avenue of escape… yep, baseball.
*Jimmy P. Morgan writes about baseball.
