Steube named an MVP in Congressional ballgame

Sarasota-area Congressman Greg Steube shared the most valuable player award Wednesday night with a Republican teammate who made a diving catch in the outfield that left him bloodied in the annual Congressional Baseball Game.

The Republicans defeated the Democrats 11-2 before about 30,000 people at Nationals Park in the game that annually raises millions for charity.

Steube, a right-hander who played high school baseball at Bradenton’s Southeast High, pitched the entire game seven-inning game for the GOP, striking out five batters. He didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning and was credited with the victory.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), who was also named MVP, stayed in the game following an acrobatic diving catch in the fourth inning, landing hard and coming up with a bloody nose.

“Awesome to have a great left-fielder to back me up,’’ Steube wrote on X, complimenting Schmitt on his big-league catch.

“There’s nothing more American that baseball (and beating the Democrats is always fun too,’’ Steube wrote in a separate post. 

In 2021, Steube hit a home run in the game, the first such hit in a major-league park in more than 40 years.

The annual game set ticket records and fundraising records, pulling in more than $3.2 million for Congressional Sports for Charity, which helps D.C.-area nonprofits.

It was the Republican team’s sixth win in a row, a streak that is likely to continue in 2027. Former major-leaguer Mark Teixeira won the GOP primary in Texas’ 21st district, a Republican-leaning Congressional district.