LIVE: Congressional Gold Medal Awarded to Former MLB Player

and help him. And often Mr. Beck would surprisingly show up in cities where my father wasn't playing too well. And they both shared a love of jazz and they would go to jazz clubs together when he was doing pretty well. Mr. Beck didn't show up, but he did when he was doing pretty bad. And this relationship I know was special to my dad. He lost his father at eight years old, and he always said that if his if his father had lived, he would hope he would have been the kind of man that Mr Beck was. And he looked at him kind of as a father, and our families are close. I love you, Mike Beck, and thank you for being here. So when he got to Cleveland, as they've stated, unfortunately everybody wasn't so happy he got there. And there were people who didn't shake his hand. There were people who gave him the dead fish handshake, and there were a few who shook his hand. My father was far from perfect, as we know that none of us are perfect. Jesus is the only one who walked on this earth that was perfect. But one thing he was perfect at, is he never mentioned the names of the guys who were the bad guys. So to this day, I don't know who they were. But the names that I heard in my house were the guys who looked out for him, the guys who made what he did possible. That was Steve Gromek, that was Joe Gordon, that was Jim Hegan, that was Bob Lemon. And for that, I thank their families and them up above for being there. Because what my father did, yes, he stood in that batter's box by himself, but everybody here knows how hard it is to hit. And if you have to try to perform when your mind is not clear and nobody's pulling for you, it makes it even harder. But those guys accepted him, and they were lifelong friends. And I'm just sorry I didn't get to meet some of them to thank them for their friendship. So then, after that, he retired and had moved to Montclair at some point. And he goes from Patterson, New Jersey, where he's a celebrated athlete, where he grew up, where he played, where people knew his name. He was a household name. He goes to Montclair, New Jersey. When he goes to Montclair, New Jersey, who lives there? Who lives there, Lindsey? The most famous baseball player in the world, Yogi Berra. So whenever I would meet people and say I was from Montclair, they said to me, Do you know Yogi Berra? I'm like, Yeah, I do know him. So my father was humble. He was understated. It was a known fact in our house that he was never gonna get in the Hall of Fame. Don't speak about it. When it happened, we were over the moon, but we kind of lived our lives with, you know, he's number two. He's not gonna get recognized, and that's the way things were. Then he comes to Montclair, and same thing happens again. But I'll tell you this. From day one, when him and Yogi met, Yogi was one of the good guys. I heard his name. He treated him nice, with respect, welcomed him to the league, and was one of the people that would have made it easier for him to make that transition from the Negro Leagues to the big leagues. So thank you, Yogi, too. So little old Montclair, you know, became our home. We were all born in Patterson, but we're all raised mainly in Montclair. My four sisters, Christina, who is here, my sister Leslie, my sister Kim, and my sister Susan, all Montclair High graduates, pretty much. But Montclair is famous for some other things. First of all, Mr. Yogi Berra has a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and then Mr. Charles Everett Malone has the same Congressional Gold Medal. He was a Tuskegee Airman, and his son is one of my best friends. And then Buzz Aldrin, who was the number two man to walk on the moon, as my father was number two in the big leagues, is also from Montclair. So he comes from pretty good company in that town also. Okay, so I'm gonna give my little little speech about politics here, and I'm gonna say this, guys. I know that there's an aisle in between that sits in you, but it's not a barrier. It's invisible. You guys need to reach your hands across, you need to cooperate, you need to compromise, and you need to coexist. This is the greatest country in the world, and it's the best when Republicans and Democrats are working together, and ideas come from both sides. Nobody on either side has all the answers. You got to listen to each other. So they said, let us not seek the Republican or Democratic answer. Let us seek to fix the blame. Let us not seek to fix the blame on the past, but let us accept our own responsibilities for the future. That's John F. Kennedy. So please remember that, and I'm going to give you another famous quote from Helen Dobie when I went to school. Play nice with the other children. So please do that, and lastly, after my father retired, he started coaching, and there were some great relationships made there. You know, he had a chance to coach some great players, to influence them, to just kind of tell his story, and help them out in life, and some of those people are here. A lot of them couldn't be here, but please bear with me as I name these people. So this, his first job was in Montreal Expos, and it was, there were some names I just want to, so Rusty Starr, Bill Stoneman, John Bateman, Ken Singleton, Mike Jorgensen, Tim Foley, Ellis Valentine, Jerry White, Warren Cromartie, Andre Dawson, Steve Rogers, Gary Carter, and Larry Parrish. Then he went to Cleveland and coached back there for a year, and the guys that kind of influenced him and made a impression on him were Charlie Spikes, George Hendrick, Oscar Gamble, and Gaylord Perry, and the last place that he coached was with the Chicago White Sox, which was managed by Bob Lemon, who was a teammate of his, but Chet Lemon, Richie Zisk, Eric Satterholm, Oscar Gamble was there again, Lamar Johnson, Ron Bloomberg, George Order, and Harold Baines, so I'd like to acknowledge them. I've had a wonderful time here. This means the world to my family. He's normally recognized only for what he did on the field, but this kind of says he was a pretty good guy off the field, and he helped advance this country, and he would be extremely proud and humbled by this honor. He would be humbled that all of you guys decided to show up. He'd be happy you were here, though, Uncle Fred, and I just want to say it's a wonderful honor. I appreciate it. My family appreciates it, and thank you, Dana Planning, for all your help from Irma, South Carolina, from the speaker's office. We appreciate you telling us where to be, what to do, and how to get there. It's a wonderful honor. It will always be close to my heart, and I thank all you guys from the bottom of my heart. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the benediction delivered by Dr. Barry Black, Chaplain of the United States Senate. Let us pray. Eternal Lord God, the giver of every good and perfect gift, we thank you for the gift of Lawrence Eugene Dobie. We praise you for this opportunity to acknowledge his legacy of exemplary excellence. Lord, we celebrate his courage, competence, and commitment that encourage us to follow in his footsteps. We praise you for his willingness to persevere in spite of injustice, motivated by the belief that you can still transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. May his noble life challenge us to dare more boldly in our defense of liberty. In all of our tomorrows, bless and keep us, make your face shine upon us, and be gracious to us. Lead us into a future fueled by faith, focus, and fortitude. We pray in the name of the Prince of Peace, who expects us to play well with the other children. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain at your seats for the departure of the official party. Thank you for your attendance and enjoy the rest of your day.