Homer At The Bat turns 25: Legendary Simpsons episode to receive Baseball Hall Of Fame honour

Common sense has decreed that it’s impossible to pick out a single favourite ‘Simpsons’ episode. There are just too many to choose from. Even the mere mention of this quandary has immediately given me a migraine.

The task becomes a little simpler, though, when you’re asked to choose the most important episodes to the series. Over the course of the show’s first two seasons you could pick out Bart Gets An F, as it’s still the most watched episode in the show’s history, its pilot Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire, Bart The General for its use of homage, or Bart The Daredevil and Lisa’s Substitute for their combination of huge laughs and heart.

But this was still at a time when the show was working out its very minor kinks, something that its third season all but ironed out. The likes of Stark Raving Dad, which co-starred Michael Jackson, Mr Lisa Goes To Washington, Bart The Murderer, Saturday’s Thunder, Flaming Moe’s, Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk, Radio Bart, and Colonel Homer are all bona-fide television landmarks.

There’s one episode from ‘The Simpsons’s’ third season, though, that just pips the others when it comes to iconic status, especially since, back in 1992, it was the first ever new episode to beat a new ‘Cosby Show’ episode in the ratings, too.

Homer At The Bat is a merry-go-round of comedic delight, and even though it is packed to the brim with Major League Baseball stars that hasn’t stopped it from being one of the most popular ‘Simpsons’ episodes in the eyes of UK viewers, too. In fact, it’s probably the closest we’ve ever come to appreciating America’s favourite pastime.

Ask any British ‘Simpsons’ fan about baseball, and all they’ll be able to muster up the names Wade Boggs, Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey, Jr., Don Mattingly, Steve Sax, Mike Scioscia, Ozzie Smith, and Darryl Strawberry in a heartbeat. They might not know anything else about them, but they’ll know them.

The adulation for this episode is equally as reciprocated across the pond. So much so that it has now been announced that the Baseball Hall Of Fame will honour ‘The Simpsons’ on May 27 of this year to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Homer At The Bat.

They’re a little bit late, though, as the episode actually first aired on February 20, 1992. Meanwhile, at the event, Wade Boggs and Ozzie Smith will also take part in a roundtable discussion with ‘Simpsons’ producers and writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss, director Jim Reardon, casting director Bonnie Pietila, and executive story editor Jeff Martin.

All of which I imagine has immediately made you pine to start a ‘Simpsons’ binge-watching session right away. To whet your appetite even further why don’t you just watch the below, too.

Expect many more ‘Simpsons’ celebrations of a similar ilk over the next few months and years, because it was at this point 25 years ago that the show hit a level of perfection that it wouldn’t relinquish for over half a decade.