Don’t bother looking for him on Baseball-Reference; instead, check him out on IMDB.
David Lander was probably — unfortunately — best know as part of the moronic duo of Lenny and Squiggy (his character) on the inexplicably popular I Love Lucy knockoff, Laverne and Shirley (all due respect, of course).
But his baseball connection was his role as the Red Barber-ish ballpark announcer in A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall who starred as the aforementioned Lavern. He even went so far as to use Barber’s famous “Oh, doctor!” on a play at the plate. Some other Lander lines to emulate the folksy Dodger broadcaster:
- “Uncle Elmore’s socks, what did she do?” when Dottie Henson, the Rockford Peaches’ star catcher (Geena Davis) does a split to catch a foul ball.
- “Strike me on the butt and call me an apple!” when Henson lines a hit back through the box to drive in the go-ahead run in the final game of the World Series.
- On the final play of that game, “Henson dropped the ball! Henson dropped the ball! … Take me home, mama, and put me to bed. I have seen enough to know I have seen too much.”
Comments on this entry are closed.