Update, 12/6/2019: A month after the Nats won their first World Series, Texas Senator Ted Cruz delivered on his promise to Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, flying in a Texan feast to the Capitol.
The two senators struck a bet before the Nats clinched their first national championship title, with Cruz vowing to cater lunch for Kaine’s staff with barbecue and Shiner beer in the wake of a Nats’ victory. If the Nats had lost the series, Kaine was to give Cruz Chesapeake crab cakes and Catocin whiskey.
On Thursday, Cruz and Kaine shared a bipartisan meal over brisket and brews, while Cruz sported a Nats World Series hat and a crisp Anthony Rendon jersey. (Rendon is a Houston native.)
Cruz said of the Shiner beer: “I’ve consumed far more of this than I am willing to admit on camera,” according to Roll Call.
Cruz now joins a few other Houstonians who paid up after their loss. Houston soul-food joint The Breakfast Klub served Texan half-smokes at the historic Ben’s Chili Bowl, and Dean Barkley Thompson of Houston’s Christ Church posted a video to Instagram donning a Nats stole after entering into a wager with Dean Randy Hollerith of the Washington National Cathedral.
Original:
There’s more than just team pride and history on the line in this World Series matchup between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros. Public officials from both cities are wagering brews, briskets, and more on the outcome.
Traditionally, senators whose home states have cities in the World Series and other major sporting events will place wagers against one another. But that couldn’t happen as usual this year, because Texas senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Republicans, have no senators in D.C. to bet against this fall. (As the Dallas Morning News notes, both Cruz and Cornyn oppose D.C. statehood efforts.)
But there was a regional workaround. Following the Nats’ Game One win, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, struck up a deal with Cruz. “We agree on little/nothing,” Kaine wrote on Facebook. “We are mortal opponents on Nats v Astros.” The two are betting a free dinner for the winning senator’s staff: either Chesapeake crab cakes and Catocin whiskey if the Astros win, or Texas barbecue and Shiner beer if the Nats emerge victorious. Plus, the losing senator wears the hat of the winning team for a day.
There are wagers in the lower chamber, too. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes placed a bet with her friend and colleague, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. If the Nats come out on top, Jackson Lee and her staff will have to take a photo wearing D.C. statehood t-shirts (Jackson Lee is already a co-sponsor of D.C. statehood legislation in the House). If the Astros take home the title, Norton will pose with Jackson Lee in an Astros jersey.
The bets aren’t contained to Capitol Hill.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted at D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over the weekend, betting a brisket plate and Texas IPA that his Astros will take the series. In response, Bowser put up some half-smokes from DC. staple Ben’s Chili Bowl, Civic Vodka from a women-owned D.C. distillery, and Citizen IPA from DC Brau (another plug for the D.C. statehood fight).
Police chiefs are in on it, too. If the Astros win, Metro Police Department Chief Peter Newsham will have to tweet a photo of himself wearing a Jose Altuve jersey in front of police headquarters. A Nats victory will mean Houston Chief Art Acevedo will pose in a Max Scherzer jersey in front of Houston Police headquarters.
Even local businesses are partaking in the bets. Houston’s oldest craft brewery, Saint Arnold’s Brewing Company, promised DC Brau some of their finest brews if the Nats secure their first World Series title. If the Astros win, DC Brau will send Saint Arnold’s cases of their own signatures brews.
However, food and drink aren’t the only things on the line for a Washington victory. Before the beginning of the postseason, Nats second baseman Brian Dozier (famous for his crooning of the Reggaeton tune “Calma”) promised to donate $5,000 to charities benefiting schools and special needs facilities in Haiti and Mississippi for every Nats playoff win. So far, Dozier’s All Win Campaign has raised over $50,000.
For the first time ever, a World Series game comes to Nationals Park on Friday, when the Nats take on the Astros in the third game of the series. Already, the home team is up 2-0.
Colleen Grablick