--- title: Congressional Baseball: Historical Photos description: The first Congressional baseball game was played in 1909 and the annual tradition continues today canonical: https://time.com/3916241/congressional-baseball-photos/ author: TIME Photo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-11T12:00:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:07.238Z article:section: Politics og:title: See the One Pastime That Unites Republicans and Democrats og:description: The first Congressional baseball game was played in 1909 and the annual tradition continues today og:url: https://time.com/3916241/congressional-baseball-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04d9d32cb79f93f0/698853ed35ba6f84bec0daea/congressional-baseball-democrats-republicans-washington-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Congressional Baseball Democrats Republicans Washington Politics og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the One Pastime That Unites Republicans and Democrats twitter:description: The first Congressional baseball game was played in 1909 and the annual tradition continues today twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04d9d32cb79f93f0/698853ed35ba6f84bec0daea/congressional-baseball-democrats-republicans-washington-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the One Pastime That Unites Republicans and Democrats by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Jun 11, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Washington Stadium hosts a baseball game between Republicans & Democrats, circa the 1900s. Washington Stadium hosts a baseball game between Republicans & Democrats, circa the 1900s.Buyenlarge/Getty Images by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Jun 11, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Washington Stadium hosts a baseball game between Republicans & Democrats, circa the 1900s. Buyenlarge/Getty Images  Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, with his second wife Edith Galt at the Congressional baseball game in Sept. 1918. Library of Congress/Getty Images  Bill Stinson, right, Washington seventh district congressman, wore a Rainiers uniform as he got some batting tips from Gil Hodges, Senators manager, in preparation for the annual Congressional baseball game on July 30, 1963 in Washington. Seattle Times/JR Partners/Getty Images  The mascots for the Republicans, an elephant, and the Democrats, a donkey, have a "fight" during the Congressional Baseball Game of 1964 in Washington. Mickey Senko—Congressional Quarterly/AP  Silvio O. Conte, R-Mass., with a cigar clamped in his teeth and his recently discarded crutches below him, lines up to take a Democrat team pitch at the 1966 Congressional Baseball game in Washington. Mickey Senko—Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images  Democrat Cheerleaders pose for photos before the Congressional Baseball Game of 1966 in Washington. Mickey Senko—Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images  Silvio O. Conte, R-Mass., lights a victory cigar after Republicans won the 1975 Congressional Baseball game. Pen Wilson—Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images  Democratic Team Manager Bill Chappell and Mendel Davis hold the Roll Call trophy after winning the Congressional Baseball Game of 1975. Mickey Senko—Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3916241/congressional-baseball-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3916241/congressional-baseball-photos/"},"headline":"See the One Pastime That Unites Republicans and Democrats","datePublished":"2015-06-11T12:00:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:07.238Z","description":"The first Congressional baseball game was played in 1909 and the annual tradition continues today — pitting Democrats and Republicans against each other in a more jovial dispute","url":"https://time.com/3916241/congressional-baseball-photos/","keywords":["Congress","Baseball","Washington","photography","democrat","Republican"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04d9d32cb79f93f0/698853ed35ba6f84bec0daea/congressional-baseball-democrats-republicans-washington-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04d9d32cb79f93f0/698853ed35ba6f84bec0daea/congressional-baseball-democrats-republicans-washington-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Congressional Baseball Democrats Republicans Washington Politics","caption":"Congressional Baseball Democrats Republicans Washington Politics","creditText":"Buyenlarge/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3916241/congressional-baseball-photos/","name":"See the One Pastime That Unites Republicans and Democrats"}}]}] ```