Pa. lawmakers still haven't finished the budget

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"Pennsylvania's bill, it's using the term speculative ticketing, but honestly, it's just another way of pushing anti-competitive provisions under the guise of protecting consumers from deceptive behavior."

—K.J. Bagchi, VP of technology policy at the Chamber of Progress, a tech trade group, on Pennsylvania's Taylor Swift-inspired ticketing reforms

Why supporters say this bipartisan softball game matters more than ever

With the Pennsylvania Capitol’s green dome looming across the Susquehanna, some 70 state lawmakers clad in orange and blue played a friendly game of softball Tuesday evening at Harrisburg’s FNB Field.

Even on a dark, rainy fall evening, the mood at the Capitol All-Stars Game was light. As Mrs. T’s Pierogies mascots goofed around in the stands and on the field, roughly 100 family members, staffers, lawmakers, and lobbyists enthusiastically cheered on the two bipartisan teams named after Pennsylvania’s favorite regional slang terms — Yinz and Youse.

In a Harrisburg that’s never been more divided, supporters of the Capitol All-Stars Game say it provides a rare chance for legislators from across the state and political spectrum to have some uncomplicated fun.

“It's really just our kind of foundational belief that the legislators deserve a platform to just be people,” game co-founder Corinna Wilson told me. 

Tuesday’s game marked the seventh contest, which was first held in 2013. Two years were canceled due to budget disputes during the Tom Wolf administration — Wilson said it was “kind of universally agreed on by everybody … that it's not attractive to play a game when there's no budget” — and 2020’s edition was canned due to COVID-19. 

Wilson and her friend Lynn Deary came up with the idea in 2012 over lunch at a diner steps away from the Capitol.

Deary, who owned a legislative tracking company, and Wilson, who was then vice president of programming at the Pennsylvania Cable Network, thought they should bring some fun and levity to the halls of the Capitol.

They looked to Washington, D.C., for inspiration. Since 1909, congressional lawmakers have played a baseball game against each other on partisan teams. 

To make the Pennsylvania version more inclusive and less hostile, Deary and Wilson made some tweaks. Instead of baseball, they decided on a slow-pitch softball game. They also ditched Democratic and Republican teams in favor of bipartisan, bicameral squads. The players are drafted by legislative leaders who serve as team captains.

As a baseball aficionado — my Twitter followers have suffered through many all caps exclamations praising New York Yankees backup catcher Kyle Higashioka — I can’t recommend the quality of play. There are no 100 mph heaters or 450-foot home runs. It’s a beer league softball game. Literally. Yuengling is a sponsor, Wilson said.

So are Essential Utilities, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and trade union LiUNA, which all have a keen interest in legislators’ official activities. 

Sponsors make in-kind donations such as beer and uniforms, or contribute money to run the event, said Wilson, who runs her own lobbying firm. The dancing pierogies were there at the behest of state Rep. Tim Twardzik (R., Schuylkill), a member of the “T” family. 

Some money also comes from spectators’ tickets. Any unused funds go to two statewide food bank associations, Hunger-Free Pennsylvania and Feeding Pennsylvania — $500,000 in total, after this year’s game, according to Wilson. 

As a watchdog reporter, I’m skeptical of having corporations and other groups with business in front of the legislature pay for lawmakers to play baseball.

Wilson hears me out but slightly disagrees.

“The sponsors are sitting in the stands and the members are in the dugout,” Wilson said. “I mean, the members come in the back gate, everyone comes up the front gate. This is not a cocktail party.”

She’s right about that. Spectators are close enough to heckle the players, but the lawmakers are in their own world throughout the game.

When the umpire, state House Parliamentarian Dave Brogan, made a bad call, the benches erupted in “point of order.” Regardless of party or chamber, they exchanged back slaps and encouragement when a teammate made a good play or committed a grievous error. And just like in Little League, at the end of the game, the teams lined up and exchanged high-fives before posing for a group photo.

“The politics can be rough and things can get tense,” Wilson said. “It's just a good thing to have a moment to be together as human beings and just do something positive together.” —Stephen Caruso, Spotlight PA

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