I was googling for something the other day (can’t remember what now), and happened upon an article over at USS Mariner (probably the best Mariners fan site if you haven’t seen it) entitled, “Bugs Bunny, greatest banned player ever“.
It is an extremely funny “real life” check on the old 1946 cartoon “Baseball Bugs“. They break down the cartoon in such a way as to nitpick the events of it (talking about stadium capacity, realities of injuries sustained in the comic animation, etc). Oh dear, I haven’t laughed this hard in ages. It was originally published right about a year ago, and I obviously missed it. Being this funny, I would have remembered it. I haven’t laughed this hard in ages. This article is one of the best fan baseball things I’ve ever read on any site.
Here’s a couple of examples from the piece:
The Gorillas score 42 runs in this inning alone by drilling single after single right at the pitcher. By keeping the pace of the game extremely fast, they kept the pitcher in the game, presumably because he had a low pitch count and was not tired, but also there was no pitcher warmed up to relieve him, and the Gorillas scored so quickly that they drove the score up before one could even be told to begin stretching. There is an additional psychological effect to be considered, as well: faced with a team that can score 42 runs in an inning, the opposing manager must have been so stunned by the offensive onslaught that he was unable to make a move, and further that his coaches and other staff were similarly disabled.
It’s a further testament to the addled mental condition of the Teatotallers during this drubbing that they were unable to take advantage of the congested baserunning by fielding any ball and throwing it to any base, where it would have immediately forced out three runners and ended the inning.
Why such a game would be scheduled remains unclear. Efforts to find contemporary promotional material for insight into fan motivation or how the game was marketed have proved fruitless.
Seriously – if you haven’t read this piece over there, you need to go do so. The cartoon is available as part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets. This particular toon is on Volume 1 (they have four as of the writing of my piece here). Click on the dvd image to order it from Amazon.com.
UPDATE: I noticed the entire cartoon is available on Google video. You should buy the DVD set, you get so much more, and a really good quality copy, too. :)