Hey hey tap ballers! In our silly lil game, we sometimes see things pop in that we have no clue as to their Origin. They seem familiar, but we just can’t pinpoint from where. So that is why we decided to make a fun lil reminder out of it. To let you know just Where did THAT Come From?
So with the Tap Ball Event, all sorts of new stuff has appeared in our games. One of the Tap Ball Prizes is Softball Burns. But why the heck is Burns rocking old timey baseball clothes? Surely a decrepit old miser like him never played softball, right? When and where did he actually appear in the Best. Show. Ever.? Let’s check out the Simpsons TV Series to find out, shall we?
“Homer at Bat” (S3:E17)
So on a short list of classic Simpsons episodes, this beauty hits the Top 10 on almost everyone’s lists. Our own Alissa the Amazing ranks it as her #1 and it’s near the top for this fuzzball too. The whole episode revolves around the Nuclear Power Plant’s softball team. The whole episode is wall to wall with hilarity especially if you’ve been a big fan of baseball since the 1980s. It’s one of the reasons my first softball jersey said Homer on the back and I called by bat Wonderbat.
I love the rules of softball a la The Simpsons. “You can’t leave first until you chug a beer. Any man scoring has to chug a beer. You have to chug a beer at the top of all odd numbered innings and the fourth inning is the beer inning.” The funny thing is these rules aren’t completely off from my experience lol.
Homer’s magic bat leads to the team actually doing much better than there previous winning record of 2 wins. “Such a mighty whallop.” Burns finds out the team will capture the pennant if they win their last game at the Millionaire’s club and bets one million dollars that his team will win the championship. The bet also leads Burns to hire major league players to take the field for the game. As a youngin… it was so awesome to see pro baseballers in my favorite show. Jose Canseco, Mike Scioscia, Ozzie Smith, Don Mattingly, Steve Sax, Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey Jr. and Darryl Strawberry! We see Softball Burns at the team’s first practice.
It’s also here where we see the brain and nerve tonic available in our Tap Ball games. Rich in protients and electromagnetic juices, it promotes robust health and has been known to cause gigantism in rare cases. It’s like a party in your mouth and everyone is invited. Burns insists all the players indulge.
Of course, Burns best task that comes with this skin is his 8 hr, Signal Plays, task. His signals during the championship game are great and now we get to see them in game whenever we like.
Such a great episode that I must insist you watch to see how it all enfolds. When this episode came out, Darryl Strawberry was my favorite ballplayer so I’ve seen it many times. I actually recorded it with my VCR just so I could enjoy it whenever I wanted. The very ending has one of the best Simpsons songs too. If you don’t want to watch the episode, you probably can figure out the rest just from the 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 laid unconscious on the bar-room 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 talking 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 talking Homer…
Ozzie and the Straw
Shave those sideburns Mattingly! And that’s it my friends. Softball Burns from an epic episode about softball and 9 All Star baseball players. What do you think of the episode? Sometimes I wonder what a current episode like this would look like. Happy to have Softball Burns in your games? Sound off and stay classy Tap Ballers! I’m off to the Springfield Mystery Spot… nothing bad ever happens there, right?
TTFN… Wookiee out!
The best part of this episode today is considering where these star players are now and what transpired in their baseball careers and lives since the episode first aired (2/20/1992 by the way):
Jose Canseco – Admitted Steroid User and wrote a book about it. Dated Madonna for a while.
Mike Scioscia – Retired from baseball at end of 1992 season.
Ozzie Smith – Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002.
Don Mattingly – “Donnie Baseball” Retired in 2005, now Manager of LA Dodgers. Never figured out what Mr. Burns meant about his sideburns.
Steve Sax – Retired from baseball in 1994.
Roger Clemens – Suspected Steroid User. Many consider that he should be elected to Baseball Hall of Fame, but doesn’t get enough votes due to steroid allegations.
Wade Boggs – Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
Ken Griffey Jr. – Will be Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame. Most likely next year in his first year of eligibility, unless the Baseball Writers that vote consider the Brain & Nerve Tonic Mr. Griffey consumed while appearing in this episode as a “Performance Enhancing Drug”.
Darryl Strawberry – Retired from baseball in 1999. Played for both the NY Mets and NY Yankees.
9 Players: 3 Hall of Famers (Clemens would make it 4), 1 (or 2) Steroid users, 1 MLB Manager.
Mike Scoscia is actually the manager for the Angels so two managers. He must have recovered form that fatal radiation poisoning.
Between this and Dr. Zaius, you won’t find any better parodies short of Weird Al!
Tried my hand at softball, but I was never able to hit the ball. Swing… and a miss. Swing… and a miss. Swing… and a miss. Ad nauseam ad infinitum.
Definitely not my game. Plus the rules never stopped being confusing 😉
My favorite episode of all time :’-)
This episode was made it what? 1992? D:
I suddenly feel very old..
Is it just me or does FXX seem to time their reruns to eerily coincide with in-game updates? Then again, there’s so much in the Simpsons that it’s hard not to just accidentally hit on an episode!
Anyways, this is also one of my favorite episodes ever (right up there with the chili cook-off, for some reason) and the song is also one of my favorites. There’s something funny happening pretty much every minute of the episode.
EVERYONE should already know where this is from. Surely!
But just in case…
lol …don’t call me Shirley : D
I went to buy a mystery box the one for 6 donuts and it didn’t give it to me and took my donuts. I did it again because I hadn’t realized it took donuts away and it happened again. Then I was showing my fiancé and he was like what?!? so I showed him and again took donuts but didn’t give me a mystery box.
Contact EA and let them know what happened, they can refund it
slightly related (since it’s burns), but Harry hearer isn’t leaving the cast.
I saw… such good news that Shearer is staying.
Gee. Burns’ recruiting technique reminds me of SOME team, I just can’t think of who it is. Of course, the difference is his team wins championships. 🙂
Oh and England’s greatest Prime Minister was Pitt the Elder.
Lord Palmerston! (whack)
Please remember your friends at the end of the alphabet!
On another note: My fireworks just started going crazy – nonstop!
Pretty…. and pretty strange!
Sorry, this post was supposed to be in the Update thread!
I remember when it first aired, Fox was doing big promotions, it was summer time and Super Dave was doing crazy stunts during commercial breaks.
Definately one of the best celeberty episodes , if not one of best episodes in general. The Springfeild Mystery spot freaked me out because at that age I thought it was sort of plausible -lol. And the gigantism scared me too.
Do you know if The S.Mystery Spot was run by Rapheal (the sarcastic guy) or was it just some one time character (never to be seen again)?
I have been singing that song ever since Softball Burns showed up as a prize which is good because I can finally get “See my Vest” out of my head. still waiting to “Put the Spring in Springfeild” :p
The voice of the guy at the Mystery Spot sounds like Raphael but it looks like a different fella.
Drats, I’m still wondering when they are going to add him to the game and what building (since he has so many jobs), I was thinking they might have a Workaholic category down the road with Him, Lindsy Nagel, Cookie Quan etc. since the have various jobs too.
Thanks for the response Wookie 🙂
Lol. I watched this last night and actually wondered aloud if this was Alissa’s favorite episode. Which goes to show that I probably spend too much time on this site.
Its funny because this episode was on yesterday and i really enjoyed it so much i had to get the dvd’s out and watch it again. Memories. They don’t make them like that anymore.
Cheers.
LOL! Just watched this episode on FXX last night! Thoroughly enjoyed seeing “game items”, plus just laughing all the way through–especially at Burns doing his signals!!
Also caught the Ruth Powers one, too! 😀
Ahhhhhhh…..delightfully satisfying!