Baseball: A Journey through Politics

Don’t let the title of this entry fool you. It won’t be a long-winded prose on the conformity of economic policies, although that could be exciting to some. Instead, we’ll be focusing on those former major league ballplayers who believe there’s a greater good after the sport that has treated them well, in most cases, monetarily or otherwise.

As it stands, Curt Schilling has taken to the airwaves, and his own blog, to let it be known that he might have some interest in making a Senate run, a spot that has opened up with the passing of the late Ted Kennedy, Senator from Massachusetts.

With the recent excess of actors and quasi-famous people making their own announcements of a possible future within the political realm, would Schilling be any different? It’s really not a question of whether he would run as a democrat, republican, or independent, or if he’d be any a good as a legislator at all, but that’s really not the point of this.

As baseball fans in general, are we longing to hear the words President Curt Schilling anytime soon? Or even Senator Schilling Yay or Nay? That’s more of a hypothetical question, but who’s to say that if he were to jump into the political arena that he couldn’t reach a big enough crowd. We are, most likely, talking about a future Hall of Famer here. And if someone, no matter who they are, feel that they can use their name and try doing some good for the better interest of society, then society could be better off for it.

There have been many former athletes who’ve made their presence felt in Congress, but the majority of them have come from the other three major sports. Most notably former MVP quarterback Jack Kemp. In the world of baseball, however, there have only been two former MLB players that have made it to the higher plateau. Four if you count those that have made a bid for any political seat, state level or higher. Schilling, if he were to run, would make it five altogether.

Some have speculated as to why so few players have gone on to political careers after baseball. There are many theories, of course, but one cannot deny that they are out there in force. Perhaps it’s because many kids’ sign pro right out of high school and therefore, don’t have that politically charged network behind them as they go forward. Or the fact that baseball is such a worldwide sport that many players come from all over to play the “National Pastime”. The most famous theory of all is that baseball pays so well that any other “job” would be a letdown economically. Actually, the last one is a falsehood, but funny nonetheless.

The more famous of these two people to join the ranks of Congress is Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher who retired in 1971. A current Senator from Kentucky, he pitched for 17 seasons for the Tigers, Pirates, Dodgers and the Phillies, the latter he pitched for twice during his career. Over the course of his career, he amounted a 3.27 ERA with a win-loss record of 224-184. In my opinion, not very Hall of Fame numbers, but if you consider seven all-star selections and a perfect game to his record, he doesn’t look all that bad after all.

The second person was a guy they called “Vinegar Bend”. Wilmer Mizell, a southpaw, pitched for the Cardinals, Pirates, and the Mets in nine big league seasons from 1952-1962, though he did serve in the US Army from 1953-1954.

Mizell accumulated a 90-88 win-loss record, with an ERA of 3.85. He started his political career during the 1960’s, and in 1968 was elected to the United States Congress.

The first of the remaining two guys to run for office but failed in his bid was a guy named Walter “Big Train” Johnson. The Big Train is someone who is not well known, but should be for the very same reason we love the sport. He was a monster on the field, a Hall of Fame pitcher who came away with a 417-279 win-loss record and an ERA of 2.17. In a 21year span, from 1907-1927, all with the Washington Senators, he had twelve 20-win seasons. Walter Johnson is arguably one of the best pitchers to ever play the game, and was one of the first five players elected to the Hall in 1936.

In 1940, The Big Train ran against incumbent William D. Byron for a House of Representative seat in Maryland, but came up empty handed.

Lastly, Bobby Richardson, a second baseman for the New York Yankees, played from 1955-1966. Richardson was not an offensive juggernaut. He batted .266 lifetime with 34 home runs, but defensively, he was one of the best. He won five gold gloves during his major league career, was a seven-time all-star, and became a world series MVP in 1960. This despite the fact he was on the losing team.

In 1976, Richardson fell short in his bid for the United States Congress, losing to incumbent Kenneth Holland.

We can only speculate on how Curt Schilling would fair in a tight Massachusetts race, but if nothing else, maybe he should take heed in the words of Jack Kemp when he first ran for Congress: “Pro football gave me a good sense of perspective to enter politics: I’d already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded and sold in effigy.”