Rep. Steve Scalise Returns to Congressional Baseball Activities

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise has finally returned to the ball field after being shot in a June 2017 attack.

James T. Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Illinois, wounded five people when he opened fire on the Alexandria practice field on June 14, 2017. Hodgkinson failed to kill any of the congressmen or staffers at the scene and later died from wounds sustained in the ensuing shootout. Just shy of a year later, Scalise has returned to the diamond.

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake first tweeted a picture of Scalise, saying the sight “does my heart good.” Scalise later responded with his own Twitter update. “It was great to be on the ball field this morning,” he said. “Can’t wait for @TheHillBaseball on June 14th!”

.@SteveScalise back on the field this morning. This does my heart good. pic.twitter.com/97uQImUgCl

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) June 6, 2018

Scalise has not been idle in the intervening months. In February, he spoke out against promoting political agendas in the midst of tragedies like the one in which he was shot. By March, he was already expressing his interest in replacing Speaker Paul Ryan.

April set him against Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Scalise grilled the social media billionaire on Facebook’s purported anti-conservative practices. Scalise made headlines once again in May when he stood in opposition to a pro-amnesty discharge petition.

In addressing his recovery last year, Scalise said: “As you can imagine, these last three and a half months have been pretty challenging times for me and my family, but if you look at the outpouring of love, of warmth, of prayer — my gosh, [my wife] Jennifer and I have been overwhelmed with all of that outpouring.” It was that support that has “given us the strength to get through all of this and to get to this point today.”

While Scalise’ continued reliance on crutches prevents him from returning to his position as second-baseman, Utah Representative Ludmya “Mia” Love is filling in.