When I was a kid…(Baseball cartoons)

Saturday mornings usually meant sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal. Yada, yada, yada. Very sweet, very nostalgic.

Well, it’s Saturday morning and I thought I’d use the occasion to offer a few items about our favorite sport.

The first one, “Abner, the Baseball,” is at once charming, creepy, and ahead of its time as the 1961 release talks about juicing the ball so as to allow for more home runs. (Here’s a brief cute one on a similar baseball POV).

Here’s a Walt Disney Classic: “How to Play Baseball,” featuring Goofy.

A so-so version of “Casey at the Bat,” also via Disney.

Never really watched The Pink Panther cartoons. Never realized he actually spoke!

This is one for the current generation of cartoon-watchers.

Here’s one of those baseball things for people who know nothing about baseball. You know, the one where there’s a ton of exposition.

Finally, here is the classic “Baseball Bugs,” which remains my all-time favorite. The U.S.S. Mariner site posted this fantastic deconstruction of the cartoon in 2006.

Of course there are others, such as all the animated Peanuts shows that featured the Charlie Brown All-Stars. But the ones here fall into more the the Saturday morning sentiment.

EXTRA INNINGS!

Good thing I didn’t stop when I wanted to because…

Remember “Homer at the Bat,” the episode of The Simpsons that featured nine baseball guest stars including Steve Sax, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Daryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey Jr., José Canseco, and Mike Scioscia?

Well, this ain’t The Simpsons — and as an old guy I had never heard of the Cartoon Network’s Uncle Grandpa, but I happened on this episode which features a modern-day contingent of ballplayers including Chris Archer, David price, Noah Syndergaard, Jose Altuve, and Chris Davis.