Homer at The Bat - Nuclear Power Plant Baseball Team
This iconic Simpsons episode originally aired on February 20, 1992, and has remained a cultural favorite ever since. If you faced this team in a men’s league game in 1992, they might have put up 100 runs in a six-inning beer fest.
The workers at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant are hesitant to join the company softball team after years of failure. That changes when Homer unveils a secret weapon: his “Wonder Bat,” a homemade bat crafted from a tree branch struck by lightning. With it, the team goes undefeated and reaches the championship game against the Shelbyville plant.
Mr. Burns places a million-dollar bet with Shelbyville owner Aristotle Amadopolis and decides to bring in outside help. He first tries to recruit dead-ball era legends like Honus Wagner and Mordecai Brown, only to be reminded by Smithers that they are long deceased. Instead, Smithers assembles a roster of living MLB stars: Jose Canseco, Mike Scioscia, Ozzie Smith, Don Mattingly, Steve Sax, Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey Jr., and Darryl Strawberry.
Though the ringers brought into Springfield to play for the nuclear power plant’s softball team were not Mr. Burns’ first choices, since most had been dead for decades, they made their mark. None stood out more than Don Mattingly, who was repeatedly berated for sideburns he did not have, shaved half his head trying to comply, and was still kicked off the team for insubordination. He left with the perfect line: “I still like him better than Steinbrenner.
Burns gives them phony jobs at the plant to make them eligible to play. This leaves the regular players frustrated, and things unravel quickly. Before the championship, seven of the nine all-stars are taken out by bizarre misfortunes. Clemens is hypnotized into thinking he is a chicken. Boggs is knocked out in a bar fight. Griffey suffers from gigantism caused by nerve tonic. Sax is arrested. Ozzie Smith vanishes into a mystery spot. Canseco gets trapped saving items from a burning house. Mattingly is kicked off the team for refusing to shave nonexistent sideburns. Scioscia becomes ill from radiation exposure.
In the end, only Darryl Strawberry takes the field.
Nuclear Plant BATTLING LINEUP CARD
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Darryl Strawberry (LF) – .237 AVG / HR: 20 / RBI: 60 / OBP: .322
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Don Mattingly (1B) – .289 AVG / HR: 14 / RBI: 89 / OBP: .327
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Ken Griffey Jr. (CF) – .308 AVG / HR: 27 / RBI: 103 / OBP: .361
Although the team features a stellar cast of MLB stars, Mr. Burns had a different vision for his original lineup. In the episode, Burns initially assembles a "dream team" that includes Cap Anson, Honus Wagner, and Mordecai Brown, only to be informed that these players had already passed away. His original team of old-timers would have looked like this
Mr. Burns Old Time Dream Team
SP Mordecai 3 Finger Brown
C Gabby Street
1B Cap Anson
2B Nap Lajoie
3B Pie Traynor
SS Honus Wagner
LF Joe Jackson
CF Harry Hooper
RF Jim Creighton - (Died after a game in 1862, before the MLB was founded)
The episode is packed with references, starting with its title, which nods to Ernest Thayer's 1888 poem "Casey at the Bat." It also makes several allusions to the 1984 film The Natural. Homer’s "Wonderbat," which he crafted himself, is a clear homage to Roy Hobbs’s Wonderboy—and, like Hobbs’s bat, Homer’s also meets a fiery end. The scene where Homer circles the bases amid exploding lights? Straight from the film’s iconic climax. The song "Talkin' Softball" is a parody of Terry Cashman’s "Talkin' Baseball," with Jeff Martin writing the lyrics and Cashman himself performing. The traveling Power Plant team, moving city to city with pennants in tow, is a tip of the hat to The Pride of the Yankees (1942).
Carl's attempt to bat with a piano leg? A playful nod to Norm Cash of the Detroit Tigers, who tried the same with a table leg while Nolan Ryan threw a no-hitter. And the team name on Mr. Burns’ jersey, the Zephyrs, comes from The Twilight Zone episode "The Mighty Casey." When Darryl Strawberry benches Homer, Bart and Lisa’s taunt—"Darrrr-ull! Darrrr-ulll!"—is a direct call-back to the 1986 World Series, when Strawberry was often heckled with the same chant.
Perhaps the coolest part of the episode, it helped take down a sexual predator. Fox had put The Simpsons in a timeslot that meant it was in direct competition with The Cosby Show, which won the timeslot every time. "Homer at the Bat" had a 15.9 rating and 23 share to win its timeslot while The Cosby Show had a 13.2 rating and 20 share. This was the first time a new Simpsons episode beat a new Cosby Show episode.
In this episode, Homer chokes on a donut while a poster detailing the Heimlich maneuver hangs on the wall behind him. This seemingly humorous background detail turned out to be life-saving. In May 1992, a 10-year-old boy in Auburn, Washington, saved his younger brother from choking on an orange by performing the Heimlich maneuver—a technique he had learned from watching that very episode. Later, in December 2007, a similar incident occurred in the UK. Aiden Bateman recalled the same episode when his friend began choking on lunch. He performed the Heimlich maneuver, saving his friend's life.
The episode is also credited with helping save at least two lives. During the scene where Homer chokes on a donut, a poster behind him explains the Heimlich maneuver. In May 1992, Chris Bencze saved his brother's life by performing the Heimlich Maneuver, having learned it from the episode. Then, in December 2007, Aiden Bateman saved his friend Alex Hardy in the same way.
To celebrate the episode’s 25th anniversary and Homer’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Fox aired Springfield of Dreams: The Legend of Homer Simpson, an hour-long mockumentary in the style of Ken Burns' Baseball, on October 22, 2017.
The team starts strong and makes it to the championship game against Shelbyville.
In the final inning, with the score tied and the bases loaded, Homer is sent in as a pinch hitter for Strawberry. Burns believes a right-handed hitter against a left-handed pitcher will give the team an advantage. However, distracted by Burns' bizarre signals, Homer is hit in the head by the first pitch, knocking him out and forcing in the winning run. The team wins the title, and Homer, still unconscious, is paraded as a hero. The episode ends with a picture of the team—Smith appears as a hovering spirit, and a visibly angry Strawberry stands in the background.
