WHEN:
Tuesday, September 26, 2023. Game begins at 5:00 p.m.
WHAT:
The Seventh Annual Capitol All-Stars Game
The Yinz and the Youse teams play a doubleheader this year in the seventh annual Capitol All-Stars Game, a slow pitch softball game for members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly that mixes Democrats and Republicans, House Members and Senators, and men and women who are assigned randomly to their teams. The Youse Team won in 2019 and again in last year’s game in dramatic late inning play, but the Yinzers have notched four games in this intense rivalry and are hungry to regain the trophy.
Earlier this year, the team captains -- President Pro Tempore Senator Kim Ward and House Speaker Joanna McClinton (Youse) and Senator Jay Costa and Representative Bryan Cutler (Yinz) – issued a fundraising challenge. The winner of that challenge will be announced on Tuesday morning and will play as the home team.
Now a much anticipated night of fun and camaraderie, since its launch in 2013 the Capitol All-Stars Game has raised more than $400,000 and donates the net proceeds to its charitable partners, the two statewide food security organizations, Feeding Pennsylvania and Hunger-Free Pennsylvania.
Details about the game can be found online at www.CapitolAllStars.org, or on Twitter @CapitolAllStars or Instagram @capitol_all_stars_softball_pa #PAHungerGame. The game is aired LIVE statewide on Pennsylvania Cable Network.
There is NO Rain date. In the event the game cannot be played, notice of game cancellation will be posted to http://www.capitolallstars.org/ and announced on PCN TV.
WHERE:
FNB Field on City Island in Harrisburg. The game is open to the public and admission is $10.
WHY
Sadly, despite the ongoing economic recovery and record low unemployment, Pennsylvania continues to see high rates of food insecurity – nearly as high as it was the early stages of the pandemic. There are now nearly two million Pennsylvanians struggling with hunger, about 25% of them children. The average cost of a healthy meal continues to rise, as well -- it’s now at $3.65, meaning the estimated cost of alleviating hunger in the Commonwealth would cost about $800 million! The charitable food network is strong in Pennsylvania, but they need our help to ensure that all Pennsylvanians have the dignity of sustained access to healthy meals for their families.
FUN FEATURES THIS YEAR
In the middle of the third inning of the first game, straight from PNC Park, the Mrs.T’s Pittsburgh Pirates Pierogies (Pizza Penny, Bacon Burt, Cheese Chester, Jalapeno Hannah, Oliver Onion, Potato Pete, or Sauerkraut Saul) will race around the ballfield.
The rap artist Frzy will perform live between the games. He is a 2018 regional Emmy Award winner for his collaboration with WQED on his hip-hop version of the Mister Rogers classic, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.” He is currently planning a historic one-night concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony at Heinz Hall on November 8, the world premiere of an orchestration of his new album. Frzy is also the 2020 Guinness World Record holder for the longest freestyle rap (31 hours), has been the face of the Eat ‘N Park Smiley Face Cookie, and is a member of the Recording Academy (which bestows the annual GRAMMY Awards) and a Governor of the Board for the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy. He has helped to raise more than $1 million for charities and this year helped to increase diversity and inclusion awareness via the successful “Books to Bars” campaign with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Two distinguished sons of Harrisburg, John Baer and Carmen Finestra are back for their seventh year calling the Capitol All-Stars Game live from the announcer’s booth high above the field. Baer is a political columnist at The Patriot-News in Harrisburg after spending much of his career at The Philadelphia Daily News. Finestra is an Emmy Award winning producer and writer for many television shows including the popular series Home Improvement.
The National Anthem and Take Me Out to the Ballgame will be sung by three legislators -- Reps. Eddie Day Pashinski, Joe Ciresi, and Joe Webster, along with Erin Haafke, Community Relations Manager, Feeding Pennsylvania.
The Capitol All-Stars Game presenters are proud to announce that 2023 is the most successful fundraising year yet, and extend their heartfelt thanks to all of the game sponsors, including jersey sponsor Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, hat sponsor Highmark Wholecare, Fanatics, UPMC, Western Pennsylvania Laborers’ District Council, The Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Representative Joanna McClinton, The Essential Foundation, Constellation Energy, the Harrisburg Senators, Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association, iHeart Radio, Outdoor Cap, Capital Blue Cross, EQT, PECO, Penn State Health, Seneca Resources, Outdoor Cap, Commonwealth Strategic Partners, Wilsbach Distribution, and Yuengling, Pennsylvania Food Merchants, BWP Bats, Canon Solutions America, Inc., IBX, and Wegman’s Food Markets.
The Capitol All-Stars legislative softball game is a project of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, fiscal sponsor. Presented by Wilson500, Inc. and Lynn Deary, founder and former president of the Pennsylvania Legislative Services, the game raises money for food banks throughout the Commonwealth and provides a rare, bipartisan, opportunity for Pennsylvania’s state legislators to play on the same team to help feed Pennsylvania’s struggling families and seniors.
Capitol All-Stars Game 2023 Tuesday, September 26 at 5 pm at FNB Field in Harrisburg
