A cultural milestone will be reached on February 20th.
It was on that day, 16 years ago, that Homer At The Bat debuted on Fox.
For those not up on their Simpsons trivia, Homer At The Bat was the 52nd episode of the series and featured nine baseball superstars who, at the time, were considered some of the best in baseball. The episode was also the very first episode of The Simpsons to beat The Cosby Show in the ratings.
A brief plot synopsis: After an undefeated season for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team, plant owner Mr. Burns bets his Shelbyville rival that his company's softball team can beat Shelbyville in the championship. In order to ensure a victory, Mr. Burns hires nine ringers from the majors, only to have eight of them succumb to a number of crazy mishaps just prior to the big game. It forces Mr. Burns to rely on his employees to win the championship which they do after Homer takes a softball to the head, thereby bringing in the winning run.
Sixteen years on, let's see what those nine ringers have been up to in the majors:
Mike Scioscia - Scioscia has always been a hard-working man and in his Simpson debut, he took on a job at the power plant hauling nuclear waste, telling fellow employees he enjoyed the job. Ultimately, he contracted radiation poisoning and missed the final. In the majors, the plate-blocking, hit-taking catcher has moved on from a pretty solid playing career to a very solid managerial career, leading the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to a World Series win in 2002 and a number of AL West division titles, including last season.
Don Mattingly - Mattingly was already on a career-slide when he signed on to play himself on The Simpson. He spent his entire career with the New York Yankees before calling it a career in 1995. He stayed on with the organization as a hitting coach but has since moved on with former Yankees manager Joe Torre, landing a job with the Los Angeles Dodgers as the somewhat cryptic "Special Assignment Coach". Mattingly was kicked off the softball team by Mr. Burns because he had issues with his Mattingly's sideburns, prompting Mattingly to mutter "...he's still better then Steinbrenner."
Wade Boogs
2 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Tim Seeman about 1 year ago
"we're talkin softball/from maine to san diego/softball, mattingly, and canseco/ken griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw/steve sax's run-in with the law/we're talkin hooooomer/ozzie and the straw"
great episode
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Tim Parent about 1 year ago
I figured I needed to honour it somehow.
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