Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “Today is the day of bragging rights for the congressional baseball game. I am proud to announce that the Republican team…”

“Today is the day of bragging rights for the congressional baseball game. I am proud to announce that the Republican team won 9 to 1 on Thursday night. I want to thank Martin Sabo and all the Democrat participants as well as our own team for a wonderful game. We had over 3,000 people come out to the Baysox ballpark for the game and raised over $90,000 for charity, the Washington Literacy Council and the Boys and Girls Club of Washington. We are very, very proud of that. This is a great tradition. This is the 40th congressional game in the modern era. I want to thank everybody who participated. I thought I would immortalize this year's game in poetry so it goes down in the literary, as well as the sports, annals and, in the process, raising the level of culture a little bit in this great Chamber. Many of my colleagues may remember this famous poem by Gerald Hern on the old Boston Braves pitching stars, Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. They were the team's only two reliable pitchers: First we'll use Spahn and then we'll use Sain. Then an off day followed by rain. Back will come Spahn followed by Sain and followed we hope by 2 days of rain. With apologies to Mr. Hern, I have adapted his poem into an ode to my starting pitcher and MVP, Steve Largent, the gentleman from Oklahoma. First we'll use Largent and then we'll pitch him again. As long as his arm's good we'll pitch him in sun or in rain.”