Skip to content
Politics
Link copied to clipboard

Pat Toomey pays up on Phillies World Series bet

Toomey presented Cruz with several dozen Wawa pretzels, 12 Yuengling lagers, 12 Yuengling Hershey Porters, 10 bottles of Yards Brawler, and six-pack of Yards Jefferson’s Golden Ale.

Making good on a wager he made before the World Series, Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) delivers Wawa soft pretzels and beer from Yuengling and Yards to Sen. Ted Cruz (R. Texas). in Washington, D.C. Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, all while wearing a José Altuve jersey. (IF the Phillies HAD defeated the Houston Astros, Cruz promised pecan pie, ice cream, and St. Arnold beer to Toomey and his staff - while wearing a Phillies jersey).
Making good on a wager he made before the World Series, Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) delivers Wawa soft pretzels and beer from Yuengling and Yards to Sen. Ted Cruz (R. Texas). in Washington, D.C. Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, all while wearing a José Altuve jersey. (IF the Phillies HAD defeated the Houston Astros, Cruz promised pecan pie, ice cream, and St. Arnold beer to Toomey and his staff - while wearing a Phillies jersey).Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
    by Nick Vadala
    Updated 
    Published 

The Phillies may have lost the World Series, but at least we get to see Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) eat some crow.

Toomey on Thursday paid up in his World Series bet with Sen. Ted Cruz (R. Texas), delivering a cart of Pennsylvania foods to Cruz’s office in Washington. And all while wearing a Houston Astros jersey — that of second baseman José Altuve — to boot.

As part of the wager, Toomey presented Cruz with several dozen Wawa pretzels, 12 Yuengling lagers, 12 Yuengling Hershey Porters, 10 bottles of Yards Brawler, and a six-pack of Yards Jefferson’s Golden Ale (or, as Cruz’s office called the brewery in a release, Yardsbrew).

“So, there you have it, Ted. My humiliation is complete,” Toomey said. Toomey added that the payoff did have an upside, in that it would teach his youngest son not to gamble.

In losing, Toomey missed out on some of Texas’ counterparts to the treats he presented to Cruz. If the Phillies had won, Cruz had promised some Goode Co. pecan pies, Blue Bell ice cream, and beer from Texas’ oldest craft brewery, Saint Arnold Brewing Co.

The bet was one of several made by local officials and organizations based on the Phillies’ World Series run. Mayor Jim Kenney, for example, made a wager with Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, for some Triple Bottom Brewing beer and food from South Philly Barbacoa. And City Council put up some cheesesteaks, pretzels, and Tastykakes.

When Toomey made good on his offer, Cruz empathized with him, saying that he has had to pay up in similar bets in the past. Toomey, who is retiring, said he had only one regret.

“I won’t even be here next year when the Phillies win,” he said.