Talking Futurama - A Leela of Her Own

The NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning signed Manon Rheaume, a goalkeeper, for the 92-93 seasons. I think it was more of a publicity stunt but she did play a couple exhibition games so she was technically the first woman to ever play in any of the major sports. (NHL liked to flatter itself as a major sport back in the day but now you could argue it’s true.)

Mikey Cox

When Henry mentioned the wrestling executive who was fired, re was referring to cowboy bill watts. Watts was an awful guy, and I remember jake the snake Robert said in a shoot interview that even Watts grandkids hate him. Watts is still seen in high regard by other wrestling figures such as Jim Ross and Jim Cornette (another problematic person).

Blarghjon

I thought of Gaedel too - I assume Leela’s “7/8” was at least partly a reference to his 1/8 uniform number.

Robert Flaxman

From childhood on, I identified so hard with Leela, because I don't have any depth perception. Baseball/softball were such a nightmare for me in gym class. I was otherwise a super-athletic kid, but anything that involved hitting, catching, or receiving an airborne object in some manner was absolutely humilitating. Like it was always weird going from the (AFAB) kid picked first for every sport to the one picked last and relentlessly ridiculed when it came time for a ball sport. I remember especially feeling "represented" in this episode like "YES! If it's okay for Leela to suck at something, it's okay for me to suck at something too!"

Kat Heagberg

Last night SF Giants' Alyssa Nakken becomes the first female coach to make an on-field appearance in a major league game. https://twitter.com/extrabaggs/status/1514077440406024192?s=20&t=6guyxtW-_aOiyc-GVO69Rw

I forgot I mean to comment on the subject of women in baseball. Like probably most here, I find it hard to believe there isn't one woman in the world better than the worst, current, Major League player. Women do have a handicap though in that juvenile sports are still largely segregated for gender and the girls who excel in Little League baseball get pushed to play softball. The mechanics of the two games are obviously very similar, but different enough due to the dimensions of the field that it's likely pretty difficult to adapt from one to the other. Though one could argue it might be even harder to go from baseball to softball due to the underhanded pitching style and the much shorter distance between the mound and home. Jennie Finch struck out a trio of Major Leaguers in an All-Star game back in 2004, one of which was Albert Pujols who only struck out 7.5% of the time that year in MLB which is an exceptionally low rate for the modern game. Around that time, there was a lot of talk about female professional golfers playing in the men's league, but I don't recall any serious discussions about Finch or her Olympic teammate Lisa Fernandez making a run at pro baseball. My guess would be because it would be very hard for either to make it as a pitcher, and that's what they were primarily known for in softball. The best softball pitchers top out at around 65-70 mph, which from 40' is pretty fast, while Major League pitchers are over 90 mph now from 60.5'. There have been some women who have tried to make it as a knuckleball pitcher (a deliberately slow pitch) such as Eri Yoshida who was drafted into the men's Japanese league. She's also played independent baseball in the US and was even invited to the spring training facility of the Boston Red Sox to work with their knuckleball pitcher, Tim Wakefield, who Yoshida is said to have idolized since a young age. The knuckleball is a hard pitch to have sustained success with and she's had her ups and downs, but is only 30 which is considered young for a knuckleball pitcher so her story is hardly over.

Joe Hodgson

1000 yen coming right up

Diamond Feit

The fact that baseball has a legacy of “novelty” players but zero women says a lot about the league.

Diamond Feit

after this episode everyone better put a 1 and two 0's in front of their patreon pledges.

Rhys

Big Sausage Pizza is a porn series. I laughed my ass off at "Kevin Nash isn't ordering any Big Sausage Pizzas anymore"

Alex Forsyth

As a baseball enjoyer and Mets fan, I appreciate all the hard work with the research. Watching this episode I couldn't help but think of the MLB owner Bill Veeck, who had a propensity for carny showmanship. The most infamous example is when he hired a little person named Eddie Gaedel to play for the St. Louis Browns in 1951. Gaedel only had one plate appearance, where he earned a walk, due to having a very small strike zone. It may be apocryphal, but apparently Veeck warned Gaedel that he had a sniper aimed at him, should he even attempt to swing the bat. Gaedel wore a uniform with the number "1/8". Veeck would try other stunts throughout his career, including the disastrous Disco Demolition Night, but the legend of Eddie Gaedel will likely outlive them all.

Scott Scallion

The "me too now" depth perception joke is probably my favorite Futurama one-liner. Just absolutely destroys me every time.

count

I love that WAC and Retronauts are both all about Italians this month, great podcast synergy.

NervousWrex

I had no idea they changed that rule! Part of my family are big San Diego fans and I remember it caused quite a stir when Dave Winfield’s beef with George Steinbrenner drove him to be the first player inducted as a Padre. Crazy to find out that was literally the last year that could’ve happened.

SomeBloke

this was the first episode I ever watched and my gateway into the series during the early 2003 Adult Swim era of the show. Wasn't lucky enough to know it was on Fox but as an avid Cartoon Network viewer i'd see it on the tv guide menu hours ahead and think "Futurama? What's this?" I was about 10 and Adult Swim was forbidden once my single mother caught on to the fact that there was now a block that wasn't for kids. But the perks of being an only child meant 'tv in bedroom', so i'd turn it on with the volume alll the way down, door closed/light's off, pretending to be asleep and watch it religiously every weeknight. It endeared me to the series more than The Simpsons in that I latched onto it first and it felt like my funny adult cartoon that I was mature enough to be tuning into in secret. Even if this episode leans towards one of the lesser-exciting ones to me as an adult who doesn't follow sports at all, still holds a place in my heart as my first visit to New New York watching against my mother's wishes, as i'm sure Groening would have wanted

Blake R.

The Wade Boggs Hall of Fame thing is interesting because this episode was made well before he was elected to the HoF and the animators/writers correctly predicted that he would go in as a member of the Boston Red Sox. It didn't take much of a crystal ball to do so as he had his best years in Boston, but it is interesting because he was the first player to allegedly have a Hall of Fame clause in his contract when he signed with his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 98 for that franchise's inaugural season. As part of the deal, it was reported he agreed to wear a Tampa Bay hat on his HoF plaque, basically meaning the franchise bought such a prestigious honor, but he denies that took place. Either way, the very rumor of such an arrangement existing prompted the Baseball HoF to exert its authority over what hat players are depicted in when they are inducted into the institute. Previously, they would let players who played for multiple teams decide that on their own. It's my understanding that when it's a close call they'll still defer to the player.

Joe Hodgson