Zach Wamp is the former U.S. Representative for Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district, serving from 1995 to 2011.
Rep. Chuck FleischmannWASHINGTON – Under the lights at Nationals Park here, Zach Wamp let himself grin; it was a big-league night for the former eight-term congressman from Chattanooga.
A lifelong Braves fan and onetime McCallie School athlete, Wamp was getting inducted into the Congressional Baseball Hall of Fame. Before he made a speech and threw the first pitch in the annual game among lawmakers, he shook hands with old buddies as House Speaker John Boehner gave him a “Zach!” and a slap on the back.
“I didn’t expect this,” said Wamp, a Republican who gave up his seat to run for governor in 2010. “I’m very, very honored.”
Warming up near the first-base dugout, Wamp’s successor, the orange-and-white-clad Chuck Fleischmann, had the distinction of being the only Tennessean on either congressional baseball team. Sixty-two members of Congress dotting the foul lines during introductions: 39 Republicans, 23 Democrats, one Vol — an up-and-coming GOP member of the Appropriations Committee in a conservative House that lauds itself for watching every penny.
“We’ve been practicing two months,” Fleischmann said before the game. “It’s awesome.”