We're Getting a "Baseball"-Style Documentary on The Simpsons' "Homer at the Bat" Episode
Building a list of the greatest episodes of The Simpsons is something so difficult and wrenching that it shouldn't be attempted, but no matter who you are, you can find room in your pantheon of classics for "Homer at the Bat." First airing on FOX in 1992, the Season 3 episode assembled a literal All-Star lineup of future MLB Hall of Famers (and, uh, Mike Scioscia) to play alongside Homer Simpson on his company's softball team and has roundly been recognized as one of the best and funniest the show has ever done—as well as one of the most consequential, as Erik Malinowski's terrific history of the making of the episode for Deadspin will tell you.
Now, 25 years after the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant defeated Shelbyville for the championship, we're getting a full-blown documentary called Springfield of Dreams: The Legend of Homer Simpson on just how they did it.
Yes, that's Jose Canseco, Steve Sax and Wade Boggs all weighing in on the origins of Homer's "Wonder Bat" in that short clip; I, for one, am happy to see that Sax got those six consecutive life sentences for committing every unsolved crime in New York City overturned. Also appearing in the Ken Burns-style documentary (which will hopefully include plaintive renditions of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" throughout, ala Baseball) will be Roger Clemens, Ozzie Smith (finally free of the Springfield Mystery Spot), Russell Brand, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, Tim Gunn, Dr. Oz, and many more.
Springfield of Dreams—directed by Super Size Me's Morgan Spurlock—will air on Sunday, Oct. 22 on FOX after the 1 p.m. ET slate of NFL games (or at 3 p.m. if your market has a 4 p.m. game). No word on whether we're getting a new rendition of Terry Cashman's "Talkin' Softball" for it, too.
