Battle for Capitol Hill - the Congressional Baseball Game

[Big Yellow Flag]

I know this game has been in the news quite a bit in the past two days, but I've been a lover of the Congressional Baseball Game (CBG) for years. I like baseball, I like politics (this thread won't be (too) political, I swear), and I like the symbolism of our national leaders engaging in our national pastime for a day. I've always wished it was bigger, the way it (allegedly) was back in the 20s, when they wore party uniforms and had cheerleaders and elephants, so with all the brouhaha surrounding this year's game (Congratulations to the Democrats on their win and taking the series lead), I decided to break out my trusty old MS Paint and see what I could whip up. Note that both teams are, to some extent, what I think the teams would wear, and that I may take a couple (maybe more than a couple) of light hearted jabs at both sides.

 

 

The Home Squad

 

As I worked, a world emerged. The home team in white will always be the team that controls the House of Representatives, because the CBG was originally by practice, though not by statute, House only, and because to quote my old little league coach, someone has to bat first. In this case, that means Speaker Ryan and the Republicans get last licks.

 

 

The GOP is by nature pretty old fashioned, stuck in its ways. We think we have a good thing going for us and see no reason to change it. Our team of old fogies is therefore in very conservative, perhaps even bland uniforms. A modified (removed the cut, moved the stars down) Republican elephant in white adorns a red-crown-white-bill cap, and the jerseys have... an R. It stands for Republican, you know. We just thought of that.

 

The pants are a little funkier. As fans (okay, fan) of my New York Townball series (which I solemnly swear will be coming back, today was a rare off day in a busy season) will know, I like to play around with belt loops. For the GOP, wearing a Republican Red belt, their loops are blue and white (hey, it's red, white, and blue that way!). The pants are adorned with stripes whose width is, like our platform, stuck in yesteryear.

 

The socks might be what I'm most proud of, you'll see them on the Dems, too. If you start at the bottom white stripe and count up, or from the top red stripe and count down, you'll get sixteen, the chronological number of the first Republican President, bAbe Lincoln.

 

The Visitors

 

I'll be honest, I'm less proud of this one, I think you'll see why.

 

 

 

I thought to myself, "Self, what's more 2017 Democratic Party than really old people trying to appeal to the youth?" So when baseball fans Pokemon Go to the ballpark, they're going to see some gratuitous black in the mix here, which actually ended up looking pretty good with the Democrat blue. Black cap with the blue D and a blue brim (dammit, I love that hat I designed).

 

The jersey was really tricky. No matter what gray I tried, the blue (which is the proper color, and which looks decent elsewhere, was all but unreadable (kind of like Obamacare) across the front, and I couldn't give it an outline that worked (or at all, I'm not quite there yet skill-wise). I considered making the jersey black (I have a version like that saved still), but in the end I settled on DEMOCRATS across the front in black. The font is the official party font (or one that looks a lot like it, anyway, I can't afford the real one #WeAreThe99). 

 

Pants are very nice and simple, with a blue belt held up by red and white loops, over the socks. It really doesn't work as well with the Democrats, the Presidential stripes, if only because they got started earlier and sixteen looks better than seven, and the odd number meant the whole sock had to be white so we didn't honor John Quincy Adams instead, Democratic-Republican that he was.

 

So, yeah. There we go. Republicans v. Democrats. Elephants v. Donkeys. Right v. Left.

 

Thoughts? Suggestions? Deletions? Comments? Interruptions? Expletives?

 

If a mod thinks this post is too political, let me know, I'll remove the comments and what have you.

[Krz]

Was thinking of doing somthing like this too ( the different jerseys REALLY bug me ) you pulled it off well using some subtle reasons for designs. I think if they really did this the uniforms would match

[coco1997]

Nice designs! For the Dems, I really feel you need to incorporate the donkey logo in there somewhere, maybe as a sleeve patch? I'd also add the circle around the "D" on the cap just so it's a little less generic looking.