Baseball Episode: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

So you're watching your favorite show. It might be romance, or supernatural, or anything at all. The characters are not shown to participate in sports, and it doesn't really matter in context. Then, the next episode comes up and... wait a minute, why are they playing baseball?

... at least coming from the United States or Japan. Most other countries don't even know what this "baseball" thing is. The British equivalent would be a [[Cricket]] episode; this is rarer, though not unknown.

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' had one. And since Haruhi is involved, they have to win the game in order to save the world. At the end of the episode Haruhi is trying to decide whether they should enter the local soccer or American football tournament next.

* ''[[FLCL]]'' episode 4 "Full Swing".

* ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' did several baseball episodes...basically whenever Tobimaro showed up.

* ''[[Maison Ikkoku]]'' did one too, with the manager from Cha Cha Maru (a local bar) organizing a game against local store owners.

** Also in Episode 20 of Season 1 {{spoiler|where Nagisa [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?|accidentally confessed]] to Tomoya}}.

* The ''[[Midori no Hibi]]'' manga has a chapter where a baseball game is used to settle a gang conflict.

* ''[[Samurai Pizza Cats]]''

* While playing baseball out of nowhere is surprising in any series, it's double surprising in ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'', which is already about American football. However, this is one of the cases where it's justified; Banba used the baseball game as a way to train Kurita and the other Devil Bats for the upcoming game with the Hakushuu Dinosaurs.

** It wasn't the actual sport that was important either, they just needed to get used to playing sports inside a dome rather than outside, due to the difference in air pressure. A baseball dome was chosen because Hiruma had dirt on the night guards watching the place.

* ''[[Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo|Sora Wo Kakeru Shoujo's]]'' ninth episode plucks up the entirety of its main cast and sets them in a modern day world that tells a baseball story instead of the colony warfare one that had been playing out up until then. QT powers are still present despite this.

* ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'' has a baseball episode, featuring all the characters in chibi form.

* The ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'' manga has the Kamogawa Gym boxers playing a baseball game. It was pretty much the only time [[Butt Monkey|Aoki and Kimura]] were better than everyone.

* ''[[Hell Girl]]'' features one of these - though not too unexpected since every episode revolves around a different set of characters. This time, it just happens to be someone who gets away with murder since he's such a great ballplayer.

* Episode 9 of ''[[Maburaho]]'' - playing against a team from hell.

* ''[[Onegai My Melody]]'' ~Spin-Around Shuffle~ episode 8

** This was taken from the manga.

* ''[[Voltron]]'' once had the good guys and the bad guys play American football.

* ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'' also had a baseball game between purported Americans (including Abner Doubleday) and a local team that includes Mugen, Jin, and Fuu. Guess who wins. Well, okay, technically nobody, but whatever.

* ''[[CLAMP School Detectives]]'' features a baseball game between Nokoru and Suoh. Nokoru has a full team of girls from the CLAMP School's kindergarten division, while Suoh covers the entire field himself and uses 'Ghost Runners'.

* ''[[Detective Conan]]'' features a baseball episode at least once which involves the culprit of the week planning his attack depending on the game's outcome.

* ''[[School Rumble]]'' had both a softball episode and a "pool hockey" episode.

* ''[[Kirarin Revolution]]'' has a baseball episode as well.

* In the ''Comic Party'' anime, characters formed two teams to play against ''each other''; the game was eventually called a tie due to some complicated exigent circumstances.

== Comics ==

* ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'' incognito, got a gig playing outfield for a minor league team. The gig ended when he had a fight with the Rhino, who was playing catcher for a rival minor league team. Foul-tempered, mutated superbehemoths playing baseball? ''Shocking''.

* The [[Justice League]] had a baseball game against the Injustice Gang in ''Strange Sport Stories''.

** They also played basketball once with similar results.

* Way back when Marvel's Avengers were only split up between East Coast and West Coast, the two teams would meet up for an annual game of baseball. One of these games was interrupted by a cosmic being called the Grandmaster (who, as it happens, is obsessed with sports and games), but that's a long story.

== Literature ==

== Live Action TV ==

** Sisko's obsession with baseball goes back to the pilot, where Sisko uses baseball to explain the concept of linear time to the wormhole aliens. He goes nuts here because that obnoxious Vulcan captain taught his crew the game ''specifically to spite him.''

** It's also worth noting that by the 24th century, baseball has almost died out and is only kept alive by enthusiasts like Sisko and on a few distant colony worlds, so it's not as mainstream as in other examples.

{{quote| '''Benjamin Sisko:''' What were you doing, ''regenerating?!''}}

** At this point in the war, ''Deep Space Nine'' is no longer on the front lines, and those returning from the front lines regularly take advantage of the station for shore leave purposes while their ships are being repaired, which is exactly why the opposing team was there in the first place. The station personnel, constantly at work supporting and organizing the war effort, would also need to spend some nights "on the town" on occasion. So it is perfectly reasonable for those involved to sync up their days off for some practice sessions and a game.

** Al helps start up a nudie-bar-sponsored baseball league when MLB goes on strike.

** And the episode where the mall softball team benches him.

* ''[[Small Wonder]]'': "Victor/V.I.C.I."

* ''[[Seinfeld]]'': Jerry and George are seen playing softball in two episodes, where the plot surrounds this event.

* ''[[Due South]]'': "Dr. Longball"

* ''[[Early Edition]]'': "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

* ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]''

* ''[[Wiseguy]]'' had "Player To Be Named Now" in which the mad [[Arms Dealer]] Mel Profitt decides to live out his childhood fantasy of becoming a baseball star, by buying an NBL team and forcing them to accept him as a player. He even forces the current owner's company into bankruptcy so he can buy at a cheaper price. The closest we see to an actual game though is Mel batting with the protagonist Vinnie pitching (Mel turns out to be a lousy batter compared to Vince). In the end the NBL rejects Mel based on his reputation, resulting in an [[Aesop]] that Money, Power, And A Gang of Mooks Isn't Everything.

* In an episode of ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'', Ralph uses his super suit to pitch for the LA Stars.

* An episode of ''Galactica 1980'' has a baseball game central to its plot.

* ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]''. In "The Diary", the geeks' plot centres around playing baseball in gym class.

* ''[[Bones]]'' didn't have an actual baseball episode, but "The Rocker in the Rinse Cycle" features Arastoo Vaziri using baseball metaphors incessantly in anticipation of the baseball season starting. The other characters end up telling him to shut up.

* ''[[Ugly Betty]]'' has one. Of course, [[Dysfunction Junction|this being Ugly Betty]], [[Hilarity Ensues]].

{{quote| '''Betty:''' ''"No! You can't jump on people!"''}}

* British example: ''[[Doctor Who]]'' had a cricket episode, in "Black Orchid"

* ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'': Maya, who played softball in college, joins the Blush softball team after it's revealed that she has a hell of a pitching arm. She gets too competitive, however, just as she did in college, and the others try to get her to quit.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' doesn't have a whole episode, but there are a few scenes where Sheridan and Garibaldi are discussing station issues while facing a pitching machine with a digital umpire.

* Leverage features this in the Three Strikes Job with Eliot becoming a catcher for part of the con so that they can steal the ballpark and the team.

* ''[[Band of Brothers]]'' uses a baseball game to wrap up the miniseries, with a voice-over [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue|describing what major characters did after the war]].

* ''[[CSI: NY]]'' 'The Closer'-the victim was a baseball fan found dead, and the team investigates. The episode let Carmine Giovinazzo show off his real life pitching skills-both the actor and his character Danny Messer wanted to be pro baseball players but had careers cut short by injury.

== Radio ==

* ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'', on the other hand, had a fight as a (association) football match. You're caught in the middle, while the enemies are split into two teams and can and will attack each other.

* The [[Super Mario]] 'verse deals with baseball in ''Mario Superstar Baseball'' and ''Mario Super Sluggers''.

* The ''[[Kunio Kun]]'' baseball game ''Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari''.

* ''[[The Magic School Bus]]'' had a baseball episode which they dedicated to friction, of all things.

* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' did this several times, most commonly involving [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]].

* ''[[Pac-Man]]'' had an episode called "Southpaw Packy". After the Ghost Monsters disrupted the Pacland World Series, Pac-Man and his family challenged them.

* [[Popeye]] played baseball in "The Twisker Pitcher".

* And then there's ''[[Futurama]]'', which has its own blernsball episode, "A Leela of Her Own''. It starts with the more typical expression of this trope (a friendly game between friends and neighbors), but soon Leela becomes an actual Major Leaguer.

** They then did a half-<s>baseball</s>basketball episode in 'Time Keeps on Slipping', in which the Harlem Globetrotters ([[It Makes Sense in Context|they're aliens]]) challenge Earth to a game "with absolutely no consequence of any kind."

* In the ''[[King of the Hill]]'' episode "Take Me out of the Ball Game," Hank coaches the company softball team and has problems dealing with putting his wife in the team who is an ace pitcher.

** Not to mention "You Gotta Believe (In Moderation)" which features Hank and the gang attempting to win against a Harlem Globetrotters-style team of clownish all-stars.

** Another episode from season 13, "Bad News Bill" when Hank realizes that a little league coach's encouragement techniques were giving Bobby false hope and ulitmately humiliating him.

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "Homer at the Bat" featured Homer becoming a star player on the company softball team, and Mr. Burns hiring a team of Major League all-stars (Roger Clemens, Mike Scioscia, Don Mattingly, Steve Sax, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Jose Canseco, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Darryl Strawberry) to play the final game to win a bet.

** In a case of [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] a running gag in the episode has Burns getting mad at Mattingly for failing to cut his sideburns (even after he shaves off most of his hair). After getting cut from the team Don is heard saying "I still like him better than Steinbrenner." A few weeks after the episode was produced, but before it was aired, Mattingly would be suspended from the Yankees for failing to cut his long hair as per team owner George Steinbrenner's policy.

** In yet another episode, Bart is a player on the Isotots and Lisa is the numbers-crunching manager.

* ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' did it in "Pinky at the Bat."

* Buster Bunny replayed Casey's role in ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' and twisted the end by actually hitting the ball.

** In another baseball episode, Perfecto Prep was easily defeating Acme Looniversity until the antics of some game crashers revealed how they were cheating.

* Goofy's [[Classic Disney Shorts]] "How To Play Baseball"

* ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'' did it. Timmy wishes Chester was the best baseball player in the world (since he's very bad and unfortunately named [[Mc Badbat]], so bad, in fact, he has to hide his face in shame with a paper bag) to make their little league team, the Losers, stop losing against all the other teams... one of which consisted of toddlers.

** Norm the Genie once came under Chester's possession and granted his wish to make Bucky an all-star ballplayer. Insanity ensued.