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 bar-room tile.
While Wade Boggs lay unconscious on the bar-room tile.
25 years ago this week, the Springfield Power Plant secured one of the most remarkable victories in sporting history; using technical nous and a shrewd business mind, C. Montgomery Burns was able to lure an all-star lineup of Major League Baseball greats away from the slums of the pro-leagues to the glittering heights of small-town corporate softball, only to fall victim to a series of calamities unrepeated to this day. Despite this, the plucky Springfield side smited the dastardly Aristotle Amadopolis and the hated Shelbyville Power Plant with a walk-off hit by pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Two-and-a-half decades later, the hero of that game is finally taking his rightful place among baseball’s immortals.
The Baseball Hall of Fame is paying tribute to the classic ‘Simpsons‘ episode ‘Homer at the Bat‘ during their annual Hall of Fame Classic Weekend this coming May. And as part of that, Homer Simpson himself is going to be “inducted” into the Hall of Fame.
The episode originally aired on February 20th, 1992, and featured a raft of baseball’s icons, including Boggs, Scioscia, Clemens, Ken Mattingly, Ozzie Smith, Ken Griffey Jr, Jose Canseco, and a host of others.
To celebrate the episode’s anniversary, the Hall of Fame will be holding a roundtable discussion featuring executive producers Al Jean and Mike Reiss, director Jim Reardon, executive story editor Jeff Martin, and casting director Bonnie Pietila. Voracious Simpsons nerds will know why episode scribe John Swartzwelder isn’t making an appearance for the discussion.
Following that, Homer and his glorious Wonderbat will ascend the Mount Olympus of Baseball, with an “official” “induction” into Hall of Fame.
If you happen to be in the area for whatever reason, it’s going down on May 27th in baseball’s Hall of Fame home of Cooperstown, New York. We have no idea if admission will set you back much, but we suspect that to gain entry you’ll have to tap your belt buckle not once, not twice, but thrice.
And for the love of god, shave off those sideburns before you go.
How’s that! Homer By-God Simpson makes it to the Baseball Hall of Fame before Darryl Strawberry does.
SUCK IT, DARRYL.
Source: Baseball Hall of Fame.
Photo: The Simpsons.
