Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.
Charlie Brown made his “Peanuts" debut on October 2, 1950. On March 6, 1951, he appeared in his first baseball game. Charlie Brown was life's perennial loser, and this fact was always reflected in his baseball career.
Charlie Brown was not only his team's pitcher, but he also served as their manager. The rest of the team's usual lineup was as follows:
First base: Shermy
Second base: Linus
Third base: Pig-pen
Shortstop: Snoopy (only beagle on the team)
Right field: Lucy
Center field: Patty
Left field: Violet
Catcher: Schroeder
The "opposing" or "other" team (never shown) was usually headed by Peppermint Patty. Her teammates included Marcie, Franklin, Thibault, and José Peterson.
The team's worst loss was a 600-0 drubbing. Charlie Brown did once admit to being a 20-game loser.
But surprisingly, Charlie Brown's team of misfits did win at least ten games over the course of their existence- albeit almost all without Charlie Brown playing.
On April 26, 1958, Charlie Brown's team won their first ballgame. Charlie Brown was sick in bed. “We didn't do anything you told us. in fact, we didn't even miss you,” he was coldly informed.
On June 1, 1965, Charlie Brown was shipped off to summer camp. Linus wrote the following letter to him: “I suppose you are worried about your baseball team. Well don't worry, we're doing fine. In fact, yesterday we won the first game we've won all season.”
On August 5, 1966, Charlie Brown was hit in the head with a line drive and had to leave the game and sit on the bench. After the game, Lucy made it a point to go over and brag that the team had won.
On August 1, 1967, upset with his team's poor performance, Charlie Brown decided to go home and lie in bed in the dark. The team won a few days later.
On August 16, 1968, Charlie Brown got very nervous when he saw the little red-haired girl in the stands. In fact, he was so nervous, he couldn't stop shaking and had to leave the game. Linus took over as pitcher and won the game. The little red-haired girl ran out of the stands and hugged Linus.
In April of 1969, the team won back-to-back games by forfeit. Both times the opposing teams didn't show up for the game.
In one game Charlie Brown and Snoopy both ran to catch a huge fly ball. The ball came down in Charlie Brown's glove but he dropped it, but Snoopy caught it before it hit the ground. Snoopy was carried off the field as the game's hero.
On March 30, 1993, Charlie Brown (very uncharacteristically) hit a game winning home run off pitcher Royetta Hobbs.
Incredibly, on June 29, 1993, the same scenario occurred, Charlie Brown hitting another game winning homer of Royetta Hobbs. (Hobbs later admitted she let Charlie Brown hit the home runs, but Charlie Brown- undoubtedly ecstatic with his brief "game-winning hero" status- didn't care.)
No matter how badly they were beaten or how huge was the margin of their loss, Charlie Brown was always optimistic on opening day. And he always reminded the team that, somehow, they were just one game behind in the standings and if they could just win this game, everything would be alright.