Washington ? Big league baseball is going to bat for U.S. troops unable to catch much of America’s pastime in Iraq with shipments of gear meant to let soldiers hear those cherished words: “Play ball!”

Wearing a Kansas City Royals jersey, Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt kicked off Operation Home Run America Tuesday at a Capitol Hill news conference with the Famous Chicken, the former San Diego Padres mascot.

The equipment is for soldiers and Iraqi children to help ease tensions in war-torn communities, Tiahrt said.

The Republican lawmaker recalled a story he heard while visiting Iraq last month about two boys approaching a U.S. Humvee to warn of an ambush ahead, where artillery shells were strung together with igniting cord controlled by remote-control device.

“These were the same troops that had opened up the playground,” he said. “I think it’ll make our young men and women safer while they’re over there.”

Some of the 12 boxes of equipment from Major League Baseball and $4,000 worth of gear from Little League Baseball were spread in the House Energy and Commerce hearing room.

A few minutes after the event started, the Famous Chicken walked in. Tiahrt threw him a pitch to make the campaign official.

“It’s not often the beak gets to speak, but I guess this would be the week,” the Famous Chicken said from the podium.

Tiahrt said the Defense Department would handle shipping the gear, probably on aircraft transporting visiting members of Congress.

Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., sports a Kansas City Royals jersey as he announces a program to send baseball equipment to troops in Iraq. He announced Operation Home Run America Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

The effort began last summer in Wichita, when Steve Knowles’ son, Marc, asked for baseball equipment so he and other U.S. soldiers could play off-duty. Help came first from the Wichita Wranglers, a Royals farm team, and then from Tiahrt, who got Major League Baseball involved.