A team of local celebrities and politicians was trounced by the Wounded Warrior amputee softball team at Nats Stadium Tuesday night.
The celeb team, lead by Mayor Vince Gray in a pair of pinstriped pants, didn’t stand a chance against the finely tuned military veterans, most of whom ran on one prosthetic leg. With D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans lobbing virtual beach balls from the mound, the veterans teed off repeatedly.
The celebs’ bats weren’t quite as impressive. Redskin hall of famer Darrell Green started things off with a strike out; D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown got on base thanks only to a fielder’s choice; and restauranteur Spike Mendelsohn grounded out in unspectacular fashion.
Mendelsohn defended his lackluster at-bat. “You’re talking to a Montreal kid who grew up with a hockey stick in his hand,” he told Yeas & Nays. “I never did tee ball or anything like that. It was my first swing.”
Gray, a former baseball player, didn’t do much at first base and was replaced by former Redskin linebacker LaVar Arrington, who distinguished himself only by trash talking the crowd. “Are you really heckling me?” he hollered at the stands.
Meanwhile, the warriors beat tags, outran grounders, and generally hit the tar out of the ball. Brown, dressed in flashy Nikes and pristine white baseball pants with two batting gloves tucked in his back pockets, described the intensity of the opposing team. “When they get on the sidelines, they’re smiling,” the chairman said. “When they get out there, the guys are trying to kill us.”
Final score: Warriors 17, Celebrities 4. The mayor blamed Evans for the loss.
