It’s not as out of left field as you might think — having Fox News Channel’s senior congressional correspondent in the broadcast booth for Wednesday night's baseball game on Fox Sports 1.
Chad Pergram knows Congress. And the Butler County native knows baseball. He was at Riverfront Stadium for Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record in 1985, and for the first two games of the Reds 1990 World Series sweep of the Oakland A’s.
“I’m a huge Reds fan,” says Pergram, who will help John Walton, a fellow Miami University graduate, call the annual Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park (7 p.m. Wednesday, June 12, FS 1).
It takes a politics wonk like Pergram to add perspective and color to the game between Republican and Democrat congressional delegations, which dates back to 1909.
“There are not a lot of statistics available, so I go through old scorecards and I research the history of the game,” says Pergram, who earned his bachelor’s degree at Miami University in 1991 and master’s degree in 1993. That’s where he met Walton, the 1996 Miami graduate who was the Reds Riverfront Stadium public address announcer from 1996 to 2002. Walton has been the voice of the NHL Washington Capitals since 2011; Pergram worked for C-SPAN, Capital News Connection and NPR before joining the Fox News Channel in 2007.
Pergram provided a sample of his preparation for the game:
“Gerald Ford, when he was House minority leader, hit the first grand slam in 1957. Several former Major League Baseball players who served in Congress also played in the game — (Wilmer) “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, who pitched for the Cardinals (11 years with St. Louis, Pittsburg and New York Mets 1951-62), pitched in the game. So did Jim Bunning from Northern Kentucky (elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame after pitching 17 years in the Major Leagues 1955-71).
“Joe Biden played when he was a senator and wore a Phillies uniform. George Herbert Walker Bush also played in the game. Jacob Ruppert played when he was a congressman from New York. He wanted to buy the New York Giants but couldn’t, so he bought the Yankees. He bought Babe Ruth from the Red Sox,” Pergram says.
This isn’t some celebrity softball game.
“Pitchers pitch from the mound, not in front of it. Bases are 90-feet apart. This is baseball,” Pergram explains. The congressional delegations have been practicing for two months for the game, which will draw more than 20,000 fans and raise nearly $2 million for children and family charities in the D.C. area.
They play hardball. When Cleveland Democrat Sherrod Brown was in the House, he collided with fellow Ohioan Mike Oxley, the Republicans’ first baseman, resulting in Oxley breaking his hand.
“(Pittsburgh Pirates star) Willie Stargell once said, ‘The umpire says 'play ball!, not work ball!' But to these guys it’s ‘work ball.’ They take it very seriously,” he says.
And it’s not just guys on the field. Managing the Democrats is U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez from California.
U.S. Rep. John Tener started the game in 1909, shortly after he took office. Tener had played professional baseball for the Chicago White Stockings, Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Burghers. He was named National League president while serving as Pennsylvania governor in1913.
Sometimes more than one game was played each year. Republicans lead the series with an 81-65 record, Pergram says.
It’s also hard to tell who the players are even with a scorecard. So it helps to have someone like Pergram, who was named Fox News Channel congressional correspondent in 2020, on the telecast.
“Republicans all wear the same uniform — and sometimes the same numbers. Last year three congressmen wore No. 4,” he says.
Democrats can wear whatever jerseys they want, which can range from local community college teams to their favorite MLB team. Last year manager Sanchez wore a Dodgers uniform with “Valenzuela 34” on the back. Hakeem Jeffries wore a minor league Brooklyn Cyclones jersey.
Pergram promises they’ll talk about the Great American Pastime, not Congressional maneuvering — at least for most of the game.
“Politics can be toxic and radioactive. We try to steer clear of politics. We want to talk about baseball — and people coming together for charity,” Pergram says.
Despite the pledge to avoid politics, Pergram notes that House Speaker Mike Johnson and minority leader Jeffries will be in the FS 1 booth for a joint conversation in the second inning.
“This is the first joint interview with the Republican and Democratic leader that has happened since 2017, when Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi spoke with CNN in 2017 after the Steve Scalise shooting,” notes Connor Smith, Fox News Channel media relations manager.
Scalise (R-LA) was seriously injured by a gunman during Republicans’ baseball practice in 2017 at a park a few blocks from Pergram’s home in Alexandria, Va. Pergram led the breaking news coverage and followed the story throughout Scalise’s recovery.
Pergram started his broadcasting career as an unpaid intern in WKRC-AM's newsroom in 1987 during his senior year at Edgewood High School in Trenton, and eventually was hired full-time. He recalls interviewing Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller on Opening Day in 1990. Pergram worked at WMUB-FM in the early 1990s, covering the Butler County Commissioners and Oxford City Council, while studying at Miami. He moved to Washington, D.C., after earning his master’s in 1993 and first worked for C-SPAN. He's an avid hockey fan and has done pre-game, in-game and post-game hosting for the Washington Capitals Radio Network.
Walton was the sports director for WMSR-AM, Miami Student Radio. After graduating in 1996 he was a WLW-AM traffic reporter; Reds stadium announcer; and broadcasting director for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks hockey team. He left Cincinnati after the Reds’ final season in Riverfront Stadium in 2002 to become broadcasting director for the Hershey (PA) Bears hockey team. He was hired as the play-by-play voice of the NHL Washington Capitals in 2011. He’s also done hockey games for NBC Sports.
