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Simpsons, softball still provide yuks

The world sucks right now.

It seems like every time you turn on the television or get on social media, you’ll either end up so depressed or upset that you want to throw something across the room. It just wears on you and you want to find something good just to get away from it all.

For people like me, humor is the best way to get away, and one of the best TV shows of all time is the source.

“The Simpsons” has been delighting viewers for almost three decades and its sports-related episodes are some of its best.

One of the all-time greats is the famous “Homer at the Bat,” which celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this week. The episode involves Homer having a spectacular season for his employer’s softball team with the help of his magic bat.

On the verge of a championship, his boss, Mr. Burns, decides to make a million-dollar bet with the rival team’s owner. To make sure he wins, he tries to put together his own team made up of former professional players, all of whom are dead.

When this is pointed out, he has his assistant convince nine Major League Baseball players to become workers at the nuclear power plant and as a result, be eligible to play.

During the episode, the various players go through some hilarious scenes and in the hours before the big game, eight of the players end up missing it due to bizarre circumstances.

Ken Griffey Jr. gets an enlarged head due to an overdose of brain and nerve tonic, Wade Boggs gets into a bar brawl in an argument over who is England’s greatest prime minister, Roger Clemens is hypnotized into thinking he’s a chicken, and Ozzie Smith vanishes off the face of the earth — that’s just four of them.

The only remaining player is Darryl Strawberry, who plays Homer’s position. After Strawberry plays almost the entire game, he’s surprisingly pulled with the game on the line in favor of Homer, who ends up winning the game after getting knocked unconscious with a pitch to the head.

I watched this episode when I was 8 years old and I can still recite every line. It also helped a good number of my friends learn who some of these players were — honestly, what kid outside of the Bronx knew who Steve Sax was?

Even people who aren’t big fans of the show can remember this episode and how Don Mattingly quit the team after a heated argument with Burns over sideburns length.

When I was in graduate school, a story about the making of the episode was thoroughly discussed, so it’s clearly stamped its importance in baseball lore.

Even though the episode orginally aired in 1992, the episode is still considered one of the series’ all-time greats and now it’s getting recognized with a major honor.

Homer and the episode are going to be “inducted” into the Baseball Hall of Fame and will have a Simpsons-themed display.

Boggs and Smith will also appear in a roundtable discussion talking about their appearances on the show. It’s nice to hear that Ozzie didn’t truly vanish and that Wade has recovered from his bar fight.

As weird as this all may seem, it goes to show how one simple episode can provide a lasting memory in the world of sports and how much joy it brought to a lot of people.

It still makes lots of us laugh and right now, we all could use one.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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