History Recap / TheSimpsonsS3E17HomerAtTheBat

* RealityEnsues: Homer hits a lot of home runs with Wonderbat when playing against other local teams. However, the first pitch he faces from a major leaguer breaks his bat in half.

* {{Jerkass}}: The woman whose house is burning down, making José Canseco get everything out of the house for her and then complaining that the dryer goes elsewhere.

* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm: After Barney punches Wade Boggs for saying Pitt the Elder was a better prime minister than Lord Palmerston:
--> '''Moe''': Heh, that's showin' him, Barn. ''(derisively)'' "Pitt the Elder".\\
'''Barney''': Looooord Palmerston! ''(punches Moe)''

* CavemanVsAstronautsDebate: Barney and Wade Boggs argue over who was the greatest British Prime Minister; Pitt the Elder or Lord Palmerston. The debate gets so heated that Barney punches out Boggs, then punches out Moe for sarcastically agreeing with Boggs.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Mike Scioscia doesn't get that his job at the plant was just a token position so he could play on the softball team and shows up to work there every day. He winds up getting radiation poisoning.

* ExactWords: Mr. Burns states that, although there is an outside chance of seven misfortunes, nine misfortunes befalling his players is virtually impossible. This proves accurate as nothing happens to either Darryl Strawberry (who Burns sends to the showers during the last play, since he wants to play the percentages and pit a right-handed batter against a [[TheSouthpaw Southpaw]] pitcher) or Don Mattingly (who was kicked off the team by Burns for his non-existent sideburns).

* AsHimself: Wade Boggs, José Canseco, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly, Steve Sax, Mike Scoscia, Ozzie Smith, and Darryl Strawberry are the ringers Mr. Burns hires, basically most of the big name baseball players of the early '90s.

* GroupPictureEnding: The episode ends this way, with the whole team present, including an unconscious Homer, Ozzie Smith's spirit, Steve Sax handcuffed to Lou, José Canseco covered in ash, Roger Clemens standing with his arms positioned like wings, Wade Boggs with a black eye, Ken Griffey Jr. in a wheelchair, Mike Scoiscia covered in bandages and an angry-looking Darryl Strawberry.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Daryl Strawberry is this to Homer. As Homer puts it, Daryl is bigger, stronger and faster than Homer, and he already has more friends around the plant than Homer does.

* GroupPictureEnding: The episode ends this way, with the whole team present, including an unconscious Homer, Ozzie Smith's spirit, Steve Sax handcuffed to Lou, José Canseco covered in ash, Roger Clemens standing with his arms positioned like wings, Wade Boggs with a black eye, Ken Griffey Jr. in a wheelchair, Mike Scoiscia covered in bandages and an angry-looking Daryl Strawberry.

* TheRival: Daryl Strawberry becomes this to Homer. Homer sort of wins in the end when Burns sends him in to pinch hit for Daryl, and he gets beaned to force in the winning run.

* HalfWayPlotSwitch: The first act revolves around Homer and his "magic" bat, but afterwards the plot switches to the Ringers Mr. Burns hires. [[MakeRoomForTheNewPlot The bat even breaks during the first practice with the pros.]]

** Although Springfield Police denying Steve Sax his
{{OnePhoneCall}} seems like a case of {{PoliceBrutality}}, in reality the police are perfectly within their rights to refuse to allow their prisoners to make any phone calls.

** Although Springfield Police denying Steve Sax his [[OnePhoneCall]] seems like a case of [[PoliceBrutality]], in reality the police are perfectly within their rights to refuse to allow their prisoners to make any phone calls.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Daryl Strawberry is this to Homer. As Homer puts it, Daryl is bigger, stronger and faster than Homer, and he already has more friends around the plant than Homer does.

* TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity: During the montage of misadventures that affects the SuperRinger team, Jose Canseco [[HeroicFireRescue risks his life to save some random woman's kid and dog from a burning building]]. After a TimeSkip to the morning after and the start of the game, we see that the woman has forced Canseco to save literally everything that was inside the now-smoldering building and is telling him where to place her washing machine in the cluttered front yard by the time we cut back to the game.

* GroupPictureEnding: The episode ends this way, with the whole team present, including an unconscious Homer, Ozzie Smith's ghost, Steve Sax handcuffed to Lou, José Canseco covered in ash, Roger Clemens standing with his arms positioned like wings, Wade Boggs with a black eye, Ken Griffey Jr. in a wheelchair, Mike Scoiscia covered in bandages and an angry-looking Daryl Strawberry.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Jose Conseco didn't makes it to the game because he encountered a burning building and saved the owner's baby and pet - and then the woman insisted that he save literally all of her other stuff from the inside. By the time we cut away from them for the last time, she is leading him in arranging her furniture on the front lawn.

* GretzkyHasTheBall: Subverted. Lisa says Homer's hit by pitch counts as a hit, though she is technically right because the play goes down as a hit batsman in the boxscore.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Burns micromanages the everloving hell out of his ringered team, and pretty much every call he makes in the episode is a bad one. From using outdated nerve tonic and quack hypnotists to attempting to draft Civil War-era players to swapping out Strawberry for Homer, he basically only avoids snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by dumb luck.

* NonVerbalMiscommunication: Homer zones out while Mr Burns is explaining what the signals are, and later, when Homer is up to bat, Mr Burns starts doing a series of strange actions. Homer has no idea what he's trying to say, and gets hit in the head with the ball and knocked out as a result.

* StoutStrength: Homer is as fat as ever-and a slow motion video he watches with Bart and Lisa shows his fat actually ''sloshing out loud''-but he also hits better than anyone except the big-league ringers.
* SuperRinger: Burns' plan to win against Shelbyville is getting an entire teams' worth of these. Subverted in that, in the end, only one of them (Darryl Strawberry with nine home runs) ends up doing anything (most of them ''don't even arrive to the game'').

* AuthorAppeal: The episode was written by John Swartzwelder, who is a big baseball fan.

* {{Mockumentary}}: In 2017, to mark the episode's 20th anniversary, receives one called "Springfield of Dreams" featuring new animation, and contributions from Bob Uecker, Bob Costas, Joe Buck, Mehmet Oz, UsefulNotes/NeilDeGrasseTyson, and Russell Brand. Its format parodies Ken Burns's ''Baseball''. Of the original episode's guest stars, only Strawberry is absent.

* ArtisticLicenseSports: Lisa egregiously states that Homer knocked out by the pitcher counts as a hit. It actually doesn't, which is why at bats where a player is walked/hit by a pitch don't get factored into batting averages.

* GretzkyHasTheBall: Lisa erroneously says Homer's hit by pitch counts as a hit.
** In a way Lisa is right because the play goes down as a hit batsman in the boxscore.

* TheRival: Daryl Strawberry becomes this to Homer. Homer sort of wins in the end when Burns sends him in to pinch hit for Daryl and he gets the winning hit.

-->'''Burns''': Smithers, I've been thinking. Is it wrong to cheat in order to win a million-dollar bet?
-->'''Smithers''': Yes, sir.
-->'''Burns''': Let me rephrase that. Is it wrong if ''I'' cheat to win a million-dollar bet?
-->'''Smithers''': No, sir. Who would you like killed?

** Musician Terry Cashman sings a version of his song "Talkin' Baseball" based on the events of the episode during the credits.

** Cut to Ozzie Smith in a red void* "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH- *sees a floating E=[=MC2=]* Cool! *Takes picture* AHHHHHHHHHH-"

* TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity: During the montage of misadventures that affects the SuperRinger team, Jose Canseco [[HeroicFireRescue risking his life to save some random woman's kid and dog from a burning building]]. After a TimeSkip to the morning after and the start of the game, we see that the woman has forced Canseco to save literally everything that was inside the now-smoldering building and is telling him where to place her washing machine in the cluttered front yard by the time we cut back to the game.