We continue with the baseball antics of the Peanuts Gang, subsequent to the run of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. Perhaps the trivia question to be most noted from these episodes is the baffling inquiry, has Charlie Brown ever been involved in a ball game where the team officially won? Read on for the surprising answer.
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (11/6/85) is an animated adaptation of the off-Broadway musical, complete with many of its production numbers performed by the gang. Of course, there is a baseball vignette. Not too much happens in it that hasn’t happened before – although there are a few significant inconsistencies. Schroeder complains as to whether Charlie Brown intends to let Lucy pitch again (something Charlie has bever been known to do), as Lucy drives Schroeder crazy with calling him out for conferences at the mound, and then kissing him on the nose. The song lyric, “There Is No Team Like the Best Team”, indicates that only one win is needed, and “the championship is ours.” This would strongly suggest that the team has had victories before. When? Lucy suggests a winning strategy – misinform the visiting team of the location of the ballpark, then claim a forfeit when they don’t show. Linus wonders if Charlie Brown would do better as a bench manager than a playing manager, and Sally seconds the idea, pointing out to Charlie how he could give orders like “Bench, do this” and “Bench, do that”, and even decide where the bench would be placed along the sidelines. Charlie describes most of the game in a letter to his “Pen Pal” (another error, as the comics used to refer to the unknown recipient of Charlie’s letters as his “pencil pal”, because Charlie never knew how to use a pen properly, and would always leave an ink blot on the paper every time he tried). Snoopy does something uncharacteristic, breaking up a play by actually biting one of the opposing players. Linus makes a catch from a third-story window, draping his blanket outside it to catch the ball. But Charlie gives up a long fly with the bases loaded, and as usual, his fielders drop an easy catch. Charlie comes to bat in the ninth, and, in spite of inspiration from noticing the presence of the Little Red Haired Girl in the stands, strikes out to end the game. Charlie ends his letter to his pen pal by remarking that he’s heard the pal lives in a place that is quite far. Can he send directions, “so I can get to where you are?”
A special that perhaps never should have been produced, as it is both inconsistent with prior material, and blows the whole mystique of Charlie Brown’s winless track-record, is It’s Spring Training, Charlie Brown, an unaired special produced in 1992 that only surfaced as a bonus extra on DVD releases. The film initially places reliance for its story-line upon a character unfamiliar to most Peanuts fans (myself included), a little brother for Frieda named Leiland, who looks like a duplicate of Rerun except for wearing an oversize metal baseball helmet. The film begins with Charlie calling for first Spring training session for his team, in the middle of a snowstorm, with the white stuff piled high enough on the ground that Charlie can only reach the pitcher’s mound with the aid of a snow shovel. When he calls for outfield chatter, Lucy, bundled in heavy jacket and scarf, begins singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”. As the snow worsens, Charlie finds himself alone on the field, truing to invite some kid’s snowman nearby to shag a few fly balls. A thaw finally hits, and Leiland shows up for a tryout with the team. He can’t seem to catch anything batted his way, but nevertheless is allowed to stay – after all, how many others of Charlie Brown’s team can claim to be capable of any better? Charlie goes through considerable effort to get Leiland to remember a complicate system of signs and gestures, standing for the signal to bunt. Leiland finally gets the over half-dozen moves memorized in proper sequence, but then asks the all-important follow-up question. “What’s a bunt?” Practice goes as usual – pretty lame, and Lucy makes a remark harkening back to “All Stars!”, that they’d be a better team if they had uniforms like every other team. (Well, Patty’s team never had uniforms. Inconsistency 1.)
We return to the site of Hennessy’s Hardware, again from “All Stars”. Hennessy is again in the mood to sponsor the team with uniforms – this time, only conditioned upon them proving their mettle by winning the first game of the season. (What happened to the league, and the league rules against dogs and girls? Inconsistency 2.) The team, when told of the deal, thinks it a lost cause, but Charlie pep talks them into thinking of that incentive and playing their best.
Visuals are presented in this film more realistically and less-stylized than in earlier episodes, featuring an honest-to-goodness team of opponents in real uniforms, actually seen in play and interaction with the gang, and several angle and overhead shots from various vantage points of the field during plays. Frankly, it seems a bit out of place for a Peanuts film, diverging too much from the familiar settings of the comic strip. Another oddity is an interlude just before startup of the game, where Charlie Brown explains to the visitors that they don’t open their games with the National Anthem (although Snoopy did just that with a portable record player in “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” – inconsistency 3). Instead, Franklin (a kid whose allegiances the writers never seemed to conclusively decide, as he was also seen at times playing for Peppermint Patty’s team) appears with a boom box, and leads the kids in a baseball chant production number we’ll call “The Franklin Rap”. It is decently produced, but actually feels like the kind of thing one would accept more readily in a Hanna-Barbera or Filmation production than in a Peanuts special.
More importantly, the plot line takes a turn that seems inappropriate for the series. Our motley crew somehow keeps up with the opponents’ score, and winds up needing only a run to win. Two out, with Leiland at bat. The kids have no confidence in Leiland’s batting abilities, and hope he’ll just stand there and let the pitcher fail to find the strike zone. But instead, Leiland swings aimlessly at two pitches, making it a three and two count. In the crucial pitch, Leiland is beaned on his metal helmet, which clamps down over his eyes. He gets a free trip to first, and Charlie Brown hopes he can bat him around – but never gets the chance. Leiland wobbles, and stumbles off the base pad, heading for second. A bad throw sends the ball into the outfield. Leiland continues past second, wobbling his way blindly toward third. Another bad throw from the field past the baseman. Leiland waddles his way around third and toward home. A late throw to the catcher, and Leiland crosses the plate for the game-winning run. (Charlie Brown’s team wins? Inconsistency 4.)
The team gets their uniforms from Hennessy (who, in another break from series tradition, only rarely duplicated in some feature-length projects such as “Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown”, is briefly seen at full height on camera). Leiland realizes his uniform is too big in size, and decides to go back to his own itty-bitty leagues, not quite ready for the majors. Charlie Brown lets him go with thanks, but continues to hold the hope that now, with their new uniforms, his old squad will be invincible. Yeah, sure. It’s back to the same old grind, and same old sloppy playing. The usual lopsided loss for game number two, and probably for the remainder of the season. So is the moral of the story that Leiland should be treated as if an outsider, leaving Charlie Brown’s squad still losers? But the victory and uniforms still show up to the team’s credit, breaking a tradition that probably should never have ended. I much preferred the forfeited victory from “The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show”, preserving Charlie’s status quo and his reputation as a born loser. A winning Charlie Brown seems almost as inappropriate as a winning Dick Dastardly, though not necessarily for the same reasons.
• “It’s Spring Training, Charlie Brown” is viewable on Internet Archive
Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown (8/29/03) was a late effort that, frankly, seems to lose its way quite rapidly. It suffers to begin with from an increasing reliance upon literalizing short daily strips from the comic as individual sequences, resulting in little overall continuity or story-telling sense, and a feeling of shifting into different modes or ideas every 30 seconds. It tries to feature a few new ideas, including the innovation of an automatic sprinkling system for Charlie’s infield – consisting of a flock of Woodstock and the little yellow birds with miniature watering cans. A rare instance takes place of seeing the gang as the visiting team at Peppermint Patty’s field, and a clever bit (probably borrowed from the comics) appears where Patty wants to dress up opening day with a release of doves, but instead gets the release of Woodstock from a box, flying in zig-zag pattern upside down. But what little plot there is takes forever to get around to, and is padded by strip after strip of Charlie Brown being pestered from Lucy in right field (though she started her career in left field in All Stars!). Schroeder and Charlie are like-minded that they really should get Lucy off the team as a nuisance. Charlie gets the idea to act like a big-league manager and engage in some shrewd trading, to see what he can get for Lucy. The only other manager he knows of to deal with is Peppermint Patty, who at first has no interest in trading for anyone but Chuck’s best player, Snoopy. Patty draws up a tempting contract, offering Charlie five of her besr players in return for Snoopy. Does Charlie have the intestinal fortitude to trade away his faithful dog on such a deal? Yes, it seems, nervously signing on the dotted line, though unable to watch his own hand while doing so. Breaking the news to his team, Charlie receives uniform rejection and the status of a outcast from all, who wonder how he could ever do such a thing. Charlie realizes he’s really graduated to the heartless status of a big league manager, but doesn’t like it. Finally, to bring about an end to Snoopy’s rejection of him, Charlie tears up the contract before him, consequences be damned. To his shock, Peppermint Patty appears, catching him in the act. But Patty is not phased, presuming Chuck got the telephone message she left for him. She could not follow through on the deal herself, as her five players all refused to play for Chuck’s team.
This would have seemed an appropriate place to end a short episode – but instead the special briefly lingers on. All of a sudden, Patty starts having trouble with Marcie in right field, and changes her mind, now claiming she’s in the market for a trade of right fielders. Charlie finally has a chance to unload Lucy, and Marcie, having a fondness for “Charles”, is willing to be traded. But, with very little elaboration or complication, both teams seem to be dissatisfied with their new player, and ultimately agree that they were each better off the old way. The whole thing ends with the status quo restored, and a few more random Lucy gags just to pad out the allotted time.
• “Lucy Must Be Traded. Charlie Brown” is on Internet Archive
Absent from the Internet, and apparently having only seen the light of day on Apple TV, was the Earth Day-themed special Snoopy Presents: It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown (Schulz Studios, 4/15/22), I’ve not seen it, but its production values from clips seem quite high, if not twinged with a sense of being a bit dramatic and overly sentimental for a Peanuts special. Appearing to spin off from the dandelion idea in Shulz’s original strip and “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”, Wikipedia lists its plot as follows:
“Charlie Brown is determined to win this year’s baseball game, but the opposing team is led by Peppermint Patty, who has won every year since she moved into town. While trying to get a head start on practice, Sally says he promised to let her try out for his team when she turned 5 years old, which she now is. He allows her to join their practice session, but she ultimately proves she has no skill at the sport, meaning she can’t join the team.
“Peppermint Patty and her team unexpectedly show up at their baseball field to intimidate them. Charlie Brown tells his team not to let it get to them, saying they just need to practice more. But just as they are about to restart practice, Sally notices a dandelion on the pitcher’s mound and grows immensely attached to it. This annoys the rest of the team, since she refuses to let them use the pitcher’s mound as long as the dandelion is there. Charlie Brown tries to compromise by practicing around her, but this proves unsuccessful.
“That night, Charlie Brown goes home, expecting Sally to get bored and leave soon. When he shows up at the field the next morning, he is surprised to see her still by the dandelion. The team becomes even more fed up with both her and Charlie Brown for not having better control of the situation. He turns to Lucy and pays her to talk Sally out of protecting the dandelion. Instead, she becomes inspired by her rebellion and rallies behind her cause. She takes things to the street and inspires all the kids in the neighborhood to help the dandelion, including the rest of Charlie Brown’s team (excluding him).
“As the baseball field becomes a festival dedicated to the dandelion, Charlie Brown tries once again to convince Sally to get over it, but she sings a song about how important the dandelion is to her (“It’s The Small Things, Charlie Brown”). Peppermint Patty and her team arrive at the field, but are surprised by what it has turned into. It is then decided that if they can’t play on the field, Charlie Brown’s team loses by forfeit. Now blinded by his ambition of victory, he tries to dig up the dandelion. Sally opposes him, leading to a scuffle that accidentally kills the dandelion. Sally and the rest of the kids are saddened by this, and they all leave the field. Though the game can finally start, Charlie Brown decides to put it on hold to find his sister. He catches up to her and apologizes, realizing how much the dandelion meant to her and respecting the community she was able to foster with it. The dandelion then blooms in her hands as she accepts his apology.
“The kids are all seen caring for the field, planting more flowers for it. The team gets a new name (The Dandelions), and Sally becomes assistant manager to Charlie Brown. Together, they are determined to beat the opposing team, but it abruptly cuts to a score of 0-100.”
Trailer for the special can be found on Youtube. An interesting storyboard-to-film comparison of some of the climactic moments of the film. With the emotional reconciliation of Charlie and Sally, is embedded below.
The Snoopy Show (Schulz Studios/Apple TV) seems to have breathed a new life into the franchise, with short episodes that seem easily as good as anything from The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show and in fact better – with high-quality animation, an excellent voice cast, and many original ideas not previously encountered in the series. At least four episodes to date provide us with more classic baseball action.
Seventh Inning Snoopy (8/12/22) – Charlie Brown interrupts a game of jacks by the gang on the sidewalk, dancing around in such a happy mood, you’d think he was Snoopy. The reason? Charlie has scored a set of tickets for a real, professional major league baseball game – enough for the whole gang and Snoopy. He claims he was told they are the best seats in the house, and, when they arrive at the stadium, looks down at the ticket numbers ro see what row and section they are in. The tickets indicate the first row, in what appears to be section 5. But when Charlie Brown moves his thumb out of the way, he reads, Section 500. The bleachers! The gang wearily climbs, and climbs, and climbs the steps like they were scaling Mount Everest, finally arriving in the very back row along the stadium’s top rail. But Charlie Brown still thinks it’s perfect – the perfect place to catch a fly ball. And he’s ready for it, having come equipped with his trusty glove. Snoopy spends some time getting trapped in the spring-loaded folding stadium seat, and finally tires of the battle, resting instead atop the seat back, balanced in the same manner as he usually sleeps atop the pointed roof of his doghouse. The gang grumbles as to which team way down on the field is the home team – the red dots, or the blue ones. Charlie points to two completely different sets of dots. “Those are the groundskeepers”, says one of the gang as to one of the sets of small specks, while another member points out that the other set of dots are “trash cans”. To quell the grumbling, Charlie offers to buy refreshments for everybody. He huffs and puffs his way downstairs, then back up, laden with popcorn and soda pop, which he hands out to everybody, only to remember after the supply is exhausted that he forgot to get anything for himself. Sally complains that the popcorn has no butter, but before Charlie Brown can say he doesn’t mind such things, Sally has thrown the sack away – and Snoopy has caught it and devoured the contents.
The game gets underway. The home town team is nearly as bad as its junior counterparts, and by the seventh inning is behind 17 to nothing. All of the gang except Charlie are bored to distraction. Charlie tries to lead them in a rousing rendition of “Take Me Out To the Ball Game: for the seventh-inning stretch, until Lucy simply yells, “Take me home!”, abruptly shutting everyone up. But, as the bottom of the 7th begins, the moment of truth arrives. A high fly ball rises up into the stands, headed right for Charlie. Charlie raises his glove high, calling for the catch, “I got it!” The expected occurs – the ball lands in Charlie’s mitt, bounces right out again, and over the railing, down into the parking lot. Charlie’s spirits are crushed, and he moans that all he wanted to do was catch a fly for a souvenir, to make the day something he would never forget. Snoopy hears this, and is touched by the broken-heart of his master. Suddenly, Snoopy disappears from the group, and no one knows where he’s gone. Then a commotion and cheers are heard from below. Some of the gang train binoculars upon the field to see what is up – and view the unexpected sight of Snoopy stepping out onto the field, wearing a bright red batting helmet, and carrying a bat to the plate. Charlie Brown can’t believe it, and is sure Snoopy will get thrown out. But instead, the crowd applauds, and encourages him to take a turn at bat. Snoopy takes a couple of strikes, but then deliberately aims a towering fly directly at Charlie Brown’s section. Charlie Brown scrambles to get a position under the ball, down staircases and back up again, across the laps of spectators, and finally back up to the row of seats just in front of the gang’s seating position. He trips over the back of one of the seats, landing in the gap behind it, as the ball comes down on top of him. Suddenly, Charlie’s glove rises above the backs of the seats, the ball firmly clenched within it. A sensational catch! The amazed gang cheer Charlie, and pick him up on their shoulders, to carry their hero out of the stadium. But as they reach the aisle to make a turn toward the stairs, Charlie is accidentally jostled, and the ball falls out of his mitt, bouncing intermittently down the stairs, taking leaps three or four rows at a time, and sailing over the guard rail back down to the good seats. Charlie’s souvenir is gone. But still, Charlie has the memory, as the kids continue to congratulate him on the sensational catch, and even crabby Lucy has to admit that the spectacular finish made the day fun. When they reach the stadium parking lot for connections with their return bus, they find Snoopy busy outside, autographing baseballs for the fans. As Charlie passes, Snoopy signs another ball, and tosses it to Charlie, providing him with a new souvenir of the day, so he won’t go home empty-handed.
Snoopy On the Mound (8/12/22) – Charlie Brown’s pitching is up to its usual problems, with a new twist. As his throws are abruptly returned to the mound by the sock of the batter, Charlie as usual has his clothes swept off – except this time, his pants wind up over his head, and his shirt below his waist where his trousers should be. Snoopy laughs himself silly. Charlie wisecracks back “I suppose you could do better”. To his surprise, Snoopy confidently climbs atop the pitcher’s mound, takes away the ball, and nudges Charlie aside, taking Charlie’s place . Schroeder, realizing he has to work with a new pitcher, approaches the mound, and runs through his series of signals to show Snoopy how he will signal for pitches. Snoopy addresses him with a blank stare. Then, when Schroeder calls for various pitches, Snoopy repeatedly shakes them off with a head-shake of “No”. “Just throw something!” shouts Schroeder. Snoopy takes a short wind-up, and to everyone’s surprise, throws a perfect strike. And another. And another. One batter out. Snoopy starts showing off, flipping pitches to home off his foot, tossing three balls at the same time over his back with a mirror, etc. Everything registers strikes. They are quickly out of the inning, and then through the game without another opposing hit. Linus remarks that if Charlie Brown hadn’t already given up 14 runs before Snoopy stepped up, they actually would have won. The whole team approaches the mound as Charlie Brwn looks helplessly on, and hail Snoopy’s pitching prowess, picking him up on their shoulders to carry hum as a hero of the field. The consensus of their chatter is that Snoopy should not only be their regular pitcher, but manager of the team as well. Charlie Brown protests, pointing out that he still is the only one holding the manager’s clipboard. Lucy quickly yanks the board out of Charlie’s hands, depositing it in Snoopy’s grasp. “Problem solved”, she coldly remarks.
Unlike Snoopy’s brief managerial stint in The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, Snoopy has more direct impact upon the team than expected. First, he fires them up with a gibberish pep talk. He assigns Charlie Brown to the most useless position in the game – Lucy’s old spot in right field. He attempts to give signals to Linus at the plate on how to bat, but confuses him so much with unintelligible signals, that Linus is looking the other way as each of three pitches sails by him. As each player strikes out or makes a fielding miscue. Snoopy goes into a tirade, shouting in words only a dog would understand, then giving the player the gesture of a heave-ho, pulling the player from the game. The gang suddenly realize that they are all seated on the bench ejected, and the field is empty save for Snoopy. How is Snoopy going to keep the game going? Simple. Give a whistle, calling in his bird friends, to take over all other positions. Charlie Brown can’t believe what they’ve been replaced by. But what’s good for the goose is good for the gander – or other yellow bird. As Snoopy finally makes a blunder on a pitch, one of the birds appears, now carrying the managerial clipboard, and chews out Snoopy, giving him the heave-ho sign to leave the game. Snoopy joins the others on the bench, his head sagging. “Now you’ve got yourself thrown out” says Charlie to him, and the two huddle together as to what to do. Charlie exits, and quickly returns, carrying a box of birdseed. He walks onto the field, sprinkling seeds on the ground to attract the birds’ attention. They abandon their positions on the field to begin pecking away. Then Charlie takes the whole box of seed, and tosses it over the outfield fence. The birds follow, and the field belongs to the team again. Snoopy hands the ball and glove back to Charlie, and resumes his old position as shortstop. But when Charlie’s first pitch causes his clothes to be rearranged topsy-turvy again, Snoopy still laughs, as heartily as ever.
Snoopy Quits the Ball Team (6/9/23) – Similar to a Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show episode previously discussed, Snoopy receives a chewing out from Charlie Brown, when he fails to catch a fly ball, since he is too busy lounging in a lawn chair on the field, watching a big league game on a portable YV set. The ball comes down on top of the set, bending Snoopy’s rabbit-ears antenna, and Snoopy won’t even toss the ball back in, as he is too busy trying to bend the broken antenna back into shape. Hearing Charlie’s complaints, Snoopy tosses in his baseball cap, and walks out. The team gets on Charlie Brown’s case for losing their best player and shortstop, and Charlie is forced to plead for Snoopy to return to the team. Snoopy agrees to meet with Charlie Brown – at the negotiating table, wearing his Joe Cool shades, and with a bespectacled Woodstock along to act as his agent. Snoopy hands Charlie a written proposal, which ar first is too demanding – including having every third inning off. After a conference with Woodstock, Snoopy scribbles a revised offer, and hands it to Charlie. Provisions include pre-game snack, first inning treat, third inning root beer, ninth-inning victory snack (whether the team wins or not)… “You drive a hard bargain” – but Charlie concedes to the demands. As a game progresses, Charlie finds out the hard way that there’s some fine print he missed – second inning head scratch, foot massage in another inning – all presented as interruptions to Charle’s rhythm on the pitcher’s mound, as Snoopy keeps handing him the contract to read. Snoopy finally earns some of his keep by making a sensational catch – but still makes further demands from the fine print, for a congratulatory pizza every time he makes a sensational play. Finally, the other players can’t stand the favoritism, and approach the mound with their own interruptions, demanding to re-negotiate their own contracts. “But you have no contracts”, protests Charlie. That’ll be the first subject of negotiation, responds Linus. That’s all that Charlie can stand. He delivers an inspirational talk to the team, that baseball is not about what you can get – it’s about working as a team, and having team spirit. The kids don’t seem to instantly get it, but when Chale answers for them the question “Are we a team?” with his own “Yes”, they start to cheer. The next play tests their ability to work together. A high fly ball heads for the outfield. Four players call for the ball at once, and collide together in a heap on the field. But Snoopy hops atop the pile of them, leaps into the air, and catches the ball in his teeth for the out.
They return the ball to Charlie, as Snoopy tears up his contract, and is carried off the field on the fielders’ shoulders as they all shout “We win!” But have they? Shroeder asks Charlie Brown where everyone is going, and Charlie responds, “I didn’t have the heart to tell them there’s still an inning left to play.”
Charlie Brown Hits a Homerun (6/9/23) – Charlie Brown wants Snoopy to help him with a little batting practice, asking him to catch the ball as he hits it with his practice swings. Snoopy is lying on his back, reading his favorite picture book about bunnies, and could care less. Charlie throws the ball into the air, swings, and misses entirely. Snoopy moves nothing but his wrist, to point out the ball resting at Charlie Brown’s feet. Charlie swings again, only succeeding in nudging the ball a few inches. Snoopy reaches down one foot to gently kick the ball back to his master. Then Charlie does the unthinkable. Swinging with determination, he connects with the ball, sending it sailing clean over his backyard fence. “I hit a home run”, states Charlie, amazing even himself. But the joy is short-lived, as the crash of glass is heard. A stormy Lucy barges into the yard through a pivoting board in the fence, knocking the board off the fence wall in the process. Charlie Brown broke her kitchen window. But Lucy’s anger is not vented toward Charlie Brown. Instead, she turns on Snoopy, who is standing close to the bat, and blames that “stupid beagle” for the incident. Charlie interrupts, attempting to properly take the blame for what he did. But the thought of Charlie Brown, hitting a ball that far? Lucy breaks into uproarious laughter – then starts telling the other neighborhood kids of the hilarious joke Charlie Brown just tried to pull on her. More spontaneous laughter, and Charlie just stands there, his face red with embarrassment.
Charlie helps Snoopy out, rounding up the necessary $5.75 to pay off Lucy for the window. But even his own sister Sally won’t believe Charlie’s incredible story of having hit the ball himself. “Please don’t make me choose between being a supportive sister and the truth.” Charlie takes matters into his own hands, taking up the baseball and bat in front of Lucy, and trying to demonstrate how he hit it. But Charlie misses, again, and again, and again – until he collapses from exhaustion. Charlie wonders how he will ever get anyone to believe him, and realizes he needs someone to prove his case. Enter Snoopy, dressed in his business hat as the world-famous attorney. The perfect one to represent Charlie – as Charlie is confident that after Snoopy’s representation, everyone will know that he’s guilty. Snoopy conducts a trial before Lucy and the gang. He calls useless witnesses such as Rerun, none of whom can testify to having seen a thing. He has Marcie present expert testimony on weather and atmospheric conditions demonstrating perfect probabilities for a ball to sail to Lucy’s window – but also statistical improbabilities that Charlie Brown could ever be the one to do it.
Linus appears as a character witness. “I’ve never known Charlie Brown to lie…However, I’ve also never known him to hit a ball that far.” “THAT’S IT!!” shouts Lucy, having had enough. Charlie is a picture of frustration, unable to believe that he is the first person ever acquitted because of low expectations. He takes up the bat and ball again, and continues, “…Just because nobody believes that I can do THIS!” Out of his sheer anger, he finally connects with the ball, and duplicates the moon shot he had hit before. The kids’ jaws all fall open, and Lucy stands convinced, apologizing to Charlie for ever doubting him. But suddenly, that familiar tinkle of broken glass. “Oh, and you also owe me $5.75 for another window”, closes Lucy.
NEXT INNING: Another lineup to be announced.
