GOP Presidential Candidates and Baseball

Inspired by an awesome email from my even more awesome dad, a breakdown of the 2012 GOP Presidential candidates affiliation with the game. In no particular order:

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1. Ron Paul

It is not clear whether Ron Paul is now a Houston Astros fan, but we do know that he is a “good friend” of Nolan Ryan, which suggests that perhaps he has switched allegiances since these glorious photos were taken. I am not part of the “rev-love-ution” or whatever the kids are calling it these days, but everyone looks like a stud to me in this beautiful uniform. I hate how much I love these.

“Ron Paul is the only congressman to have hit a home run over the fence in the congressional baseball game’s 50-year history.”

2. Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney, age six

Romney is a Red Sox fan, and in a debate with Rudy Giuliani in 2007 he zinged Rudy with the following quote: “Eighty-seven long years. We waited 87 long years. And true suffering Red Sox fans that my family and I are – we could not have been more happy than to see the Red Sox win the World Series, except by being able to beat the Yankees when they were ahead three games to none. And so, I have to tell you that like most Americans, we love our sports teams and we hate the Yankees.”

Wait, wasn’t it actually 86 years?

3. Newt Gingrich

It isn’t clear what team Gingrich roots for, but he believed in 1994 that the baseball strike could be solved by “both sides sitting down and watching ‘Field of Dreams’.” I’m thinking this whole political process thing could be solved by both sides sitting down to watch “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington,” no?

4. Michelle Bachmann

Michelle Bachmann appears to not care about baseball at all. As if I needed another reason.

5. Jon Huntsman

In which I guess Mitt Romney is this sad baseball mitt. Get it? Mitt, Mitt? Jon Huntsman hates baseball? I don’t know.

6. Rick Santorum

Well, this sucks. Rick Santorum plays fantasy baseball. He’s even good at, I guess, depending on how good the other guys in his league are: In the last fifteen years of playing in an AL-only league, he’s won seven times. I was really disappointed when I read this, because for a second it made me feel something close to affection for Rick Santorum, in that way you do when you find out someone is the same kind of nerd you are.

Then I scrolled down. Asked about whether he, as a fantasy owner, would ever draft a player who was a known PED user (is this a thing?!), he said “Well, I mean, you know, I’m trying to think back whether I ever did guys with steroids or not,”

Okay, wait a second, whether he ever “did” guys with steroids? Heh. Okay, continue:

“You know, I think I canned Giambi when I found out about that a few years ago. So, no, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a guy on my team like that, now that you think about it. You know, you have folks you suspect but you’re not sure whether they did them or not. But, no, I think I’ve have pretty much of a clean team, I feel pretty good about that record.”

There’s also this confusing MSNBC video of Rick Santorum “playing” in an 1870s style baseball game in Urbandale:

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In conclusion, here’s your Little Kid Barack Obama chaser!