# Talk:Homer at the Bat

Interesting to see that the chalkboard gag for this episode is 	"I will not aim for the head." I refuse to believe that this is randomness/coincidence (q.v. the climax of the episode, in which Homer is hit in the head), but unless anyone can find a source saying this was intentional, it might just be one of those things that the viewer is expected to notice but is never made obvious by the production staff... :P --Kinu t/c 05:17, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
It's my understanding that these are frequently intentional, and that chalkboard gags do often reference the episode. - Is this the first instance in the series of this occurring?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.124.116.101 (talk) 16:31, 29 December 2018 (UTC) 
...
I'm wondering about the "peanuts gag" in the episode, during the game. It seems out-of-place, it must be a reference to SOMETHING SOMEWHERE. Does anybody know?

This is rough production info from the commentary. It will be prosified and added to the article as soon as I find time.
"Homer at the Bat" marked the first time that a new episode of The Simpsons managed to gain higher ratings than The Cosby Show. (Jean)
The episode was suggested by Sam Simon, who wanted to get many real players. (Jean) Al Jean and Mike Reiss doubted that they would be able to get 9 players, thinking that they might be able to get 3. (Reiss)
The players were recorded over a period of six months, (Reiss) with them being recorded whenever they were playing the Dodgers or Angels. Several players were not the first choice. (Jean) One they went after was Ryne Sandberg (Martin)
Rich Moore was intended to direct the episode, but he did not do anything about Baseball, so he switched with Jim Reardon, who was a baseball fan, and Moore was given "Lisa the Greek" (Reardon)
All of the players were really nice, except one whose name supposedly rhymes with "Manseco" and he was very intimidating. (Jean) He disliked his original part and insisted it be rewritten, and the writers grudgingly (Martin) made him as heroic as possible (Jean)
Swartzwelder is a big baseball fan (Martin)
Two regular cast members, Harry Shearer and Julie Kavner really disliked the episode, (Martin: and were annoyed by the Mattingly/sideburns joke) partially because it so surreal and the guest stars are the focus. (Reiss)
One segment is a parody of Pride of the yankees (Castellaneta)
Carl batting with a piano leg is a reference to Norm Cash of the Detroit Tigers, who once tried to bat with a piano leg in a game where Nolan Ryan was so overpowering. (Jean)
The episode took a long time to produce (Jean) and the player designs were very hard to d0 (Reardon)
Ken Griffey Jr. didn't understand the line "there's a party in my mouth" and got quite frustrated. He was directed by Mike Reiss and Ken Griffey, Sr. was also present, trying to coach his son (Reiss)
One of the hardest pieces of editing was the hypnotist segment, when various players speak in unison, as the players recorded their parts at different times and it was difficult to sync up their parts (Reiss)
Several players were amused that Strawberry was made the kissass. (Jean) 
Jeff Martin directed Roger Clemens, who did his own chicken clucks and Wade Boggs. (Martin)
The music from the movie The Natural is used in this episode. (Jean)
Terry Cashman sings "Talkin' Softball", written by Jeff Martin, which was a parody of his song "Talkin Baseball"

I'll do the reception section now. Gran2 17:11, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
There was a sports article which called this episode the best sports moment of the show, you can find a link in the The Homer They Fall page. And when this one hits GA, we will finally have a GA (or better) from every classic season (although we don't have any GAs from season 5, we do have an FA) -- Scorpion0422 17:12, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
Yep thanks, forgotten about that. Gran2 17:29, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
Reception section done, found this great source you can use [1] . It has a quote from all of the guest stars in the episode, very useful, especially the Mattingly sideburns fact, him having to do it in real life a year after the episode was made. And this [2] which is sort of the same thing, but has some new info as well, and confirms the Canseco/Krabappel thing (the sentence the use looks copied from here... but eh). Plus if I had more time there is probably a few more sources out there, I think this could be our fifth FA. Gran2 18:04, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
I don't know if you got this already or not, but Chris Turner says this episode is the start of the classic season in Planet Simpson. -- Scorpion0422 18:34, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
I've added two more review, and have you got the page number? I did a quite scan but can't find it. Gran2 19:01, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

I have added DVD commentary info, but nothing else. The Planet Simpson page is 39. It is also mentioned on 63 and 373-74 (If you have a different edition than me, try checking the index in the back). -- Scorpion0422 19:24, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
Yep its there, I'll add in the two sources and the Turner stuff. Gran2 19:30, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
Error:  Lisa Simpson declares that her dad's getting beaned "counts as a hit."  No it doesn't.  He gets a run batted in, but it's just a hit-by-pitch and doesn't affect his batting average any more that a walk would.  But then, she's a girl and doesn't know doody about the scoring rules, right? ;) WHPratt (talk) 03:03, 26 May 2011 (UTC) - (To be fair, from the context, Lisa isn't referring to Homer's personal scoring. It's pretty clear that she is merely explaining that the bean advances the runners and wins the game (instead of losing it as Marge assumed).)
...
"Ken Griffey Jr. did not understand his line "there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited"" - because it's kind of an "inside joke". the joke is a reference to "Flaming Moe's", where Moe makes the same statement after tasting Homer's drink WHICH ALSO SUSPICIOUSLY HAS A PROMINENTLY PURPLE INGREDIENT.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.124.116.101 (talk) 16:26, 29 December 2018 (UTC) 

Yeah, excellent, initially I had problems with the prose early on which I intended to sort out, but everything seems fine now. Alientraveller 10:17, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. Gran2 10:20, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

This article has been reviewed as part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Good articles/Project quality task force. I believe the article currently meets the criteria and should remain listed as a Good article. The article history has been updated to reflect this review. Regards, MASEM 17:27, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Up until 3 August 2007, the article had a section chronicling Burns' first pick team, as well as an analysis of its impossibilty (due to some of the players being many years removed). This section was deleted, but it does seem noteworthy. Can it be restored? Tutsuro (talk) 00:07, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

The section was removed because it was OR. -- Scorpion0422 01:36, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
That's just stupid.  It should be put back.  At least list the names of the players that were in the show.  That is definitely not "O.R.".  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.210.43.239 (talk) 19:40, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Does anyone have any information about this? I just viewed the episode, and the poster just shows a graphic of a man administering a vaguely heimlichesque action to another man. This information would only be helpful if you had absolutely no previous knowledge on the subject. Seems a little suspect to me. 
24.65.181.219 (talk) 12:25, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Why? The two people involved were young children. And who are you to say what people would find helpful? Gran2 12:42, 10 October 2009 (UTC)
It is just seems like a hoax to me. You would have to be watching pretty closely to even notice it; it only stays on the screen for a moment. I didn't realize that they were children though(the article doesn't mention this explicitly). 
24.65.181.219 (talk) 09:25, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Right, well it's highly unlikely this is a hoax. Gran2 15:20, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

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