Homer at the Bat

The episode follows the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team, led by Homer, having a winning season and making the championship game.

Mr. Burns makes a large bet that the team will win and brings in nine ringers from the "big leagues" to ensure his success.

Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey Jr., Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, Jose Canseco, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry, and Mike Scioscia all guest starred as themselves, playing the ringers hired by Mr. Burns.

[4] Workers at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant are reluctant to join the plant's softball team due to previous unsuccessful years but eagerly do so when Homer mentions he has a secret weapon, which turns out to be his "Wonder Bat," a lucky bat he made from a fallen tree branch struck by lightning.

Smithers recruits Jose Canseco, Mike Scioscia, Ozzie Smith, Don Mattingly, Steve Sax, Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey Jr., and Darryl Strawberry.

Before the game, seven of the nine all-star players suffer from bizarre mishaps that leave them unable to play: Sax is arrested by the Springfield police (who blame him for every unsolved crime in New York City), Scioscia gets radiation poisoning as a result of working in the nuclear plant's unsafe conditions, Griffey develops gigantism as a side effect of being addicted to a nerve tonic Burns gave the team, Canseco gets caught up rescuing a woman's possessions from her burning house, Boggs gets knocked unconscious by Barney Gumble after the two men argue about who the greatest English prime minister was (Barney says Lord Palmerston, Boggs says Pitt the Elder), Smith disappears after visiting the Springfield Mystery Spot, and Clemens is hypnotized into acting like a chicken.

With the score tied and bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Burns pinch hits Homer for Strawberry, noting that fielding a right-handed hitter against a left-handed pitcher will serve to the team's advantage.

Distracted by Burns' strange signals, Homer is hit in the head by the first pitch, knocking him out and forcing in the winning run.

[5] Nolan Ryan, Rickey Henderson, Ryne Sandberg, and Carlton Fisk were among the players who turned down the chance to guest star.

[5] He was originally slated to wake up in bed with Edna Krabappel and miss the game (in a parody of Bull Durham), but Canseco's then-wife, Esther Haddad, objected.

[13] When asked in 2007 about his part by the San Jose Mercury News he responded, "that was 100 years ago," hung up the phone and did not answer any of the paper's subsequent calls.

[13] Don Mattingly, who was forced to shave off his "sideburns" by Mr. Burns during the episode, would later have an actual "haircut controversy" while he was playing for the New York Yankees.

Homer's secret weapon, his self-created "Wonderbat", is akin to Roy Hobbs's "Wonderboy", and both bats are eventually destroyed.

When Darryl Strawberry forces Homer to stay on the bench, Bart and Lisa jeer by repeatedly yelling "Darrrr-ull!

[18][19] Regular cast members Harry Shearer and Julie Kavner disliked the episode because of its focus on the guest stars and its surreal tone.

[6] Writer John Swartzwelder has mentioned "Homer at the Bat" amongst seven other favorite episodes The Simpsons he wrote (out of fifty-nine) that he "always enjoys watching.

[2] Chris Turner, the author of the book Planet Simpson, said the episode was the indication that "the Golden Age [of the show] had arrived".

[21] Nate Meyers rated the episode a 4+1⁄2 (of 5), stating "the script makes great use of the baseball superstars, giving each of them a strong personality and plenty of pep (the highlight has to be Mattingly's clash with Mr.

"[24] It was placed third on AskMen.com's "Top 10: Simpsons Episodes" list, Rich Weir called it "one of the show's more memorable moments" and "effective as it combines a slew of guest stars with some hilarious material for Homer".

[33] Nathan Rabin writes that the episode is about guest stars "but it's also about expanding the show's universe into strange, surreal directions", noting the bizarre misfortunes that befall the players.