The Westport Cardinals Baseball Club: Baseball Bugs

Baseball Bugs (Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released on February 2, 1946 starring Bugs Bunny)



A baseball game is going on, at the Polo Grounds, between the Gas-House Gorillas and the Tea-Totalling Teetotalers.

Actually, a game is putting it mildly, since the Gas-House Gorillas, a bunch of oversized players, are dominating the opposing team, made up of old men ("I'm only 93 and a half years old!", a joking reference to a radio catchphrase "I'm only 3 and half years old"). The old man's uniform style, complete with flat-topped cap, also suggests something from the 19th century.

Their home runs go screaming out of the ballpark (literally) and the batters form a conga line, with each hitter knocking a ball out.

Deep in the outfield, a lone fan of the Teetotalers is heard...Bugs Bunny. From his rabbit hole, eating a carrot in a hot dog bun, he talks trash against the Gorillas, saying how he'd go "Wham! A homer! Wham! Another homer!"

However, his challenge is soon accepted by the Gorillas and, as a result, Bugs now has to play all the positions on the opposing team. Furthermore, he must pick up where the Teetotalers left off, i.e. scoreless and down by a lot.

Bugs first uses his fastball, which he throws so hard that it zips by opposing batters but also knocks him over and into the backstop as he tries to catch it. Bugs then befuddles the Gas House Gorillas (using his 'slow ball', accompanied by a 'sputtering engine' sound, a pitch so slow that the players can't seem to connect with it), then steps up to the plate and hits home runs against the Gas House Gorillas (at one point, pulling out a pinup poster to distract a player who is covering home plate), thus quickly catching up on the scoreboard.

By the end of the game, Bugs is up 96-95 with two outs. However, a Gorilla is on base and another is up at bat, having just fashioned a bat out of a large tree and swinging it menacingly. Unintimidated, Bugs asks the audience to watch him "paste this pathetic palooka with a powerful, paralyzing, perfect pachydermous percussion pitch" and lets the pitch go, but the ball is crushed and rockets out of the ballfield.

Bugs goes chasing after it, is almost led away by a Gorilla in a taxi, catches a bus (where he spends the trip casually reading a newspaper and checking on the flight of the ball), goes to the top of the "Umpire State Building", climbs a flagpole, throws his glove in the air (which is actually against the rules) - and manages to catch it. The umpire climbs over the ledge, yelling, "Yer OUT!" The Gorilla yells, "I'm out?" to which the Statue of Liberty (Bea Benaderet) comes to life, saying "That's what the man said, you heard what he said, he said that!" (a popular line from a radio show), with Bugs echoing her words to close out the cartoon.

Baseball Bugs Title Card