Former Major League Baseball star Mark Teixeira, 45, has put down the bat and is hoping to pick up a congressional seat in Texas’s Tuesday primary race for Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-TX) seat.
Teixeira, one of many former professional athletes to secure an endorsement from President Donald Trump, is the heavily favored candidate in the race to replace Roy, who is vacating the seat to run for Texas attorney general, in the state’s 21st Congressional District.
During an interview with the Washington Examiner, Teixeira outlined the parallels between being a professional athlete and a politician, saying the two are “very similar.”
“My baseball career has definitely prepared me for life during a campaign, and no one’s going to outwork me,” Teixeria said. “No one is going to understand what it takes to win.”
“As an athlete, much like a politician, sometimes you’re only as good as the work you’re willing to put in,” he added.
The former baseball player looked back on his first time meeting Trump and outlined the similarities between the two, both as Washington outsiders before they entered the world of politics.
“The first time I met President Trump was as a member of the Yankees,” Teixeira explained. “He would come to games, and he would sit right next to the dugout, and so I had a chance to meet him a few times as a member of the Yankees. When he called me, I hadn’t talked to him in years, and then when he called me from the Oval Office to give me his endorsement.”
“He was an outsider that just wanted to serve his country and make it strong again, and that’s exactly what I’m doing, and he respects that,” Teixeira emphasized.
Trump has a history of throwing his support behind athletes for office and honoring current players for their accomplishments. Most recently, the president hosted the U.S. men’s hockey team, who took home the gold medal over Canada in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, at his State of the Union address last week. During his remarks, the president announced he would award goaltender Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trump also met with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker last year, after the kicker endorsed Trump for his 2024 presidential bid.
“Mark Teixeira is a former Major League Baseball STAR, and tremendous America First Candidate, who is running to represent the incredible people of Texas’ 21st Congressional District,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “I know Mark well, and he is a TOTAL WINNER, on and off the field! An MLB All-Star, Mark’s career was ‘loaded up’ with Accolades and WINS, including five Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and a World Series Championship.”
Teixeira is not the first former athlete Trump has thrown his support behind.
The president endorsed Georgia Senate Republican nominee and former football star Herschel Walker in his 2022 bid, which he ultimately lost. He also threw his support behind former NFL kicker Jay Feely in his House bid this year.
While the Texas Republican has his eyes set on getting to work in Washington, there is another bonus to being in Congress with a baseball background — the annual Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park.
If elected, Teixeira will have the opportunity to once again set foot on the field in a professional baseball stadium, but with a different kind of team.
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“I’ll definitely play in the Congressional Baseball Game, but I do have to admit that I haven’t played baseball since I retired 10 years ago, so I’m going to have to knock off some rust, but I think I do think it is a great way to build camaraderie in Congress,” the former baseball player said.
Teixeria said a handful of House Republicans have reached out to him regarding the GOP baseball team and expressed excitement about another outsider coming to Washington.