A Year After Shooting, Scalise Returns to Play Ball

Republicans and Democrats put aside the sectarian hostilities that have increasingly defined Washington and came together on the baseball diamond Thursday, a year after bullets from a would-be mass assassin shook Congress to its core. Democrats prevailed 21-5 in the 57th Congressional Baseball Game for Charity at Nationals Park. But the night belonged to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and all who hailed his return after he was shot during a team practice last spring in suburban Virginia, the AP reports. The Louisiana Republican suffered life-threatening injuries and has endured lengthy hospitalizations, multiple surgeries, and painful rehabilitation. Scalise was honored before the game and started at second base for Republicans, fielding a ground ball and completing the put-out to first on the game's first play.

"It's been a long road to this day," Scalise tweeted earlier in a day filled with media interviews, accolades, and a Capitol Hill blood drive to commemorate the donations he received a year ago. Scalise wore a Capitol Police cap to honor officers who worked the shooting last year, injuring gunman James Hodgkinson, who later died. Hodgkinson's social media posts prior to the shooting suggest he targeted the Republican baseball team because of his political views. Giving no mention to Hodgkinson, Scalise pronounced himself "grateful for the support and prayers" Thursday and added, "Let's play some baseball." (A "series of miracles" prevented last year's shooting from being a much greater tragedy.)