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In July 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers at the White House to celebrate the team's World Series victory. During the ceremony, Biden told a brief story about one of his proudest sporting accomplishments: a 368-foot hit off the right-center field wall during a congressional baseball game circa 1973: Here's Biden's full quote. You can hear Biden tell this story at the 17-minute mark of the following video: Biden's story was a little loose on the details (he says it was his first congressional game and then says it was second), but he did get at least one fact wrong. Biden says that this game took place at the old Washington stadium, but that can't be correct. Biden, who became a U.S. senator in 1973, played in his first congressional baseball game that same year at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. The year prior, the congressional baseball game was played at RFK stadium in Washington, D.C., but Biden did not participate in that game (as he was not yet a senator). Biden participated in at least three congressional baseball games between 1973 and 1975. This alleged hit certainly did not happen in his final appearance as Biden never got the chance to bat. It appears that Biden briefly took up residence in center field but he never got the chance to make a defensive play and never made an appearance at the plate. Biden baseball 1975 23 Jul 1975, Wed The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) Newspapers.com In 1974, Biden did get a chance to bat, but he struck out both times. After the game, Biden applauded the pitching of Peter Domincini, a former minor league player and a Republican senator from New Mexico. Biden said: He threw me straight stuff ... But he has some motion. I just took my cuts and hoped. I wouldn't want to make a career out of hitting against him. Once a year is already too much. 31 Jul 1974, Wed The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) Newspapers.com While Biden certainly did not hit a 368-foot ball against the right-center field wall in '74 or '75, it's possible that this hit took place during Biden's first congressional game in 1973. Biden he went 1 for 2 at the plate during the 1973 game. We searched newspaper accounts of the game but weren't able to find any descriptions of Biden's hit. The Associated Press described Biden's .500 batting average as lusty in their July 31, 1973, article about the game, but we're honestly not sure how to interpret that: 31 Jul 1973, Tue The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) Newspapers.com It's possible that Biden's 1973 lusty hit bounced off the right-center field wall — that wall at Memorial Park, where this game was played, was about 446 feet. At RFK Park, where this game was not played, the wall is about 380 feet — but we have not been able to find any documentation that that was the case. Judging from this newspaper clipping alone, it's just as likely that this was a ground ball or a bloop single. In any case, while this hit may have been memorable to Biden and his family, as far as we can tell it was inconsequential to the game and didn't drive in any runs. We weren't able to find any other references of Biden playing in the congressional baseball game after 1975. The scores and winners for nearly all of the congressional baseball games since 1909 can be found in the archives of the United States House of Representatives, but not the rosters. We reached out to the House of Representatives and the White House for more information about Biden's congressional baseball career and will update this article if more information becomes available.
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