Homer at the Bat
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"Homer at the Bat" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons
Synopsis
The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team has gone through their season undefeated, and in the championship, they will face the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant. Homer is the team's leading hitter, thanks to his homemade bat (a takeoff of what happened in The Natural).Mr. Burns makes a million dollar bet with Aristotle Amadopolis, owner of the Shelbyville plant, that his team will win. To secure victory in the game, Burns hires several Major League Baseball players to work at the plant (Clemens, Boggs, Griffey, Sax, Smith, Canseco, Mattingly, Strawberry, Scioscia) and to play on the team, much to the dismay of the plant workers who got the team to the championship in the first place.
However, the night before the game, all the players but Strawberry have different incidents that don't allow them to play. Because of this, Burns must use actual employees, but keeps Homer on the bench because Strawberry plays his position. Homer does get in, though, with the score tied and bases loaded in the 9th inning, when Burns wants a right-handed hitter against a left-handed pitcher. The very first pitch hits Homer in the head, rendering him unconscious and forcing in the winning run. Homer is then paraded as a hero.
During the credits, Terry Cashman, who made the song "Talking Baseball", sings a take on his hit with "Talking Softball".
The Team and Why they Didn't Play
- Left fielder: Jose Canseco, Oakland A's: rescued a woman and her possessions from her burning house; after saving her and her child, the woman had Canseco save her various appliances.
- Catcher: Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Dodgers: Radiation poisoning.
- Shortstop: Ozzie Smith, St. Louis Cardinals: Lost in the Springfield Mystery Spot.
- First baseman: Don Mattingly, New York Yankees: Kicked off the team by Burns for his "sideburns" parodying a fight Mattingly had with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Even so, Mattingly remarks that Burns was still better than Steinbrenner.
- Second baseman: Steve Sax, New York Yankees: Arrested and sentenced for life in prison for murders in New York.(For Six Consecutive lifetimes)
- Starting pitcher: Roger Clemens, Boston Red Sox: Hypnotized into thinking he is a chicken.
- Third baseman: Wade Boggs, Boston Red Sox: Punched out in a bar fight by Barney Gumble over Britain's greatest prime minister (Pitt the Elder vs. Lord Palmerston).
- Center fielder: Ken Griffey, Jr., Seattle Mariners: Overdoses on nerve tonic, resulting in gigantism.
- Right fielder: Darryl Strawberry, New York Mets: Originally in the lineup and played in the game, hitting nine home runs; replaced by pinch-hitter Homer in the bottom of the last inning.
Talkin' Softball Lyrics
Well, Mr. Burns had done it The power plant had won it With Roger Clemens clucking all the while Mike Scioscia's tragic illness made us smile While Wade Boggs lay unconscious on the barroom tile We're talkin' softball From Maine to San Diego Talkin' softball Mattingly and Canseco Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw Steve Sax and his run-in with the law We're talkin' Homer... Ozzie, and the Straw We're talkin' softball From Maine to San Diego Talkin' softball Mattingly and Canseco Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw Steve Sax and his run-in with the law We're talkin' Homer... Ozzie, and the Straw
Trivia
- The episode title is a play on the Ernest Lawrence Thayer poem "Casey at the Bat".
- Jose Canseco was originally slated to wake up in bed with Edna Krabappel and miss the game, but Canseco's then-wife objected.
- *Because of the change, Marcia Wallace was listed in the credits, even though Mrs. Krabappel didn't appear at all in the episode.
- The players in this episode were an extremely talented group. They combined for 77 All Star selections, 34 Gold Gloves, 7 Cy Youngs, and 4 league MVP awards. They also won a combined 12 World Series.
- Smith and Boggs are the only members of the Baseball Hall of Fame from this group. Clemens and Griffey are shoo-ins upon retirement. Mattingly has an outside chance.
- As of 2006, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Roger Clemens are the only remaining active players (Mike Scioscia manages the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Jose Canseco plays in the Independent League, and Don Mattingly serves as the New York Yankees hitting coach).
- The end song "Talkin' Softball" was actually re-written from an older song "Talkin' Baseball" by Terry Cashman, singer/writer of the song. Cashman has rewritten his lyrics several times for particular teams.
- This episode marks the second time in the series that someone mentions the phrase "It's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited!" Ken Griffey Jr. says it after trying Mr. Burns's tonic. The first being Moe's exclamation upon sampling the episode's titular beverage in the episode "Flaming Moe's." This line was parodied in Futurama, another cartoon by Matt Groening, when Fry eats a very expired egg salad sandwich and exclaims "It's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's throwing up!" Griffey had trouble performing the line, a number of outtakes of which are presented as a hidden feature on the Season 3 DVD set.
- At the time, only Steve Sax and Don Mattingly had played for the New York Yankees. Four of the other ringers would later play for the Yankees (Boggs, Clemens, Canseco, and Strawberry).
- The episode makes several allusions to The Natural, a movie starring Robert Redford and which is based upon Bernard Malamud's book by the same name. Homer's secret weapon, his self-created "Wonderbat," is akin to Roy Hobbs's "Wonderboy." Both bats are eventually destroyed. The scene featuring the explosion of stadium lights as Homer circles the basepaths is taken directly from the film The Natural, as is the scene with the team and a hypnotist.
External links
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