#561853
Play Ball
Original Air Date: September 25, 1991
Written by: Tommy Thompson
Directed by: Joe Napolitano
Leap Date: August 6, 1961
This time: Sam leaps into Doc, a baseball player for the Mustangs. Doc was a major league pitcher but wound up back in the minors. The Mustang’s coach asks him to sub in for a hitter. Doc is a famed pitcher but not that great of a hitter, though Sam does almost manage a home run. A fellow player/young buck named Chucky takes a bit of a shine to Sam afterwards. It also seems as though Chucky has drinking and anger problems. Al arrives and says that Sam needs to get Doc back to the majors. On a hunch, Sam asks Al to look into Chucky.
Back at their team base, Sam sees the owner of the team, Margaret Twilly. She keeps Doc on the team in exchange for ‘favors.’ This is music to Al’s ears (once he realizes that the owner is a woman!) since Sam can be on the starting roster. An impromptu lesson from Al later and he can pitch like a pro. As good as Sam is, that is nothing compared to Chucky, though Al says Chucky gets washed out in no small part to him fooling around with team girlfriend and Twilly’s daughter, Bunny.
There is a playoff game coming up and Sam ‘finds a way’ to start. Chucky is despondent since scouts will be there. Also, Al finds Chucky’s dad, Warren. Warren walked out on the family and has no interest in rekindling things with Chucky since Warren cannot help Chucky financially any more than he could in the past. He has kept up with Chucky’s career, even going so far as to travel to games.
Needing to keep Chucky on the team, Sam sneaks into the Twilly residence to get Chucky out. Bunny catches him and anticipates some fun. Before he can talk his was out, Margaret comes in and kicks them off the team.
At the playoff game, Chucky (filled in by Bunny) tells Sam that there are no hard feelings, though he was passed out while it happened. Margaret arrives, makes a good show of the New York Yankee’s scout, and heads off to wish her team luck. Al arrives and wonders why Sam is not in uniform. It turns out that several players are pulled due to legal issues. Since they cannot play with a roster of eight, the guys are put in.
The game goes well, so well that it mimics the original history. Needing to make a difference, Sam takes himself out giving Chucky a shot. The game goes well, and Sam makes the winning catch. The scout gives him a chance and Sam gets a job as a pitching coach. Warren stops by and reunites with his son. Sam leaps …
.. into a deputy sheriff helping a woman get things together. The area is windy which makes sense for the coming hurricane.
Fact Check: Pete Rose gets a name check though this leap is a good two years before he even started to play professionally.
Stop talking to yourself: Sam talks about being ready at a moment’s notice whereupon the pitcher quickly throws a ball at him. Why this is not considered a foul is an exercise for the viewer.
Only Sam can see and hear: For the baseball episode, Al busts out his old uniform from his playing for the navy.
Mirror images that were not his own: Leaping in with a mouth full of chewing tobacco, Sam spits it into a nearby sink and sees Doc in the mirror when he looks up.
Something or someone: Sam gets to stick around for Chucky to toss him a baseball.
It’s a science project: Al gives Sam a technical lesson on how to pitch.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow: Al tries to hide Chucky’s father from Sam but Ziggy/Gooshie keeps on sending messages to the handlink via boops and beeps.
Let’s up the rating: After seeing himself, Bunny walks in and quickly removes her dress. Later at the diner, we get a nice shot of the waitress’s bust as she goes by the camera. Finally, Margaret makes a pass at Sam. It is a triple play!
One more time: “What did dragon lady want?” “She just wanted to talk about my … performance.”
Al wanting to know what happened and Sam pulling a double entendre.
The Rainbow Treknection: Before playing Hawk in First Contact, Neil McDonough was Chucky in this episode.
Trivial Matters: For the second episode in a row this season, Sam does not say the titular phrase of this rewatch alone in the teaser. That honor goes to the bat boy who walks in on him after Bunny takes off her dress.
The mustang’s mascot is a pig (they can barely afford uniforms let alone a horse) who does a great job of getting dirty. It happens off camera during a commercial break, though the dialogue does not indicate any time passes.
Put right what once went wrong: “Can this wait until after the game?” “The United Stated Immigration Department does not wait for anything.” “But this is baseball.” “And this is a warrant.” One of the things I gave the pilot, Genesis, a lot of flack for was giving the baseball plot a short shrift with twenty paltry minutes. Just like The Next Generation took the time to build on the first season for their fourth season (revisiting Lore, The Traveler, etc.) so did Quantum Leap.
The writing is a hodgepodge of what we have seen before. Sam getting seduced, absent parent deciding to be more involved, pretty much the entire portion of the plot from the pilot expanded upon with the exception of Sam telling Al that Chucky reminds him of a young Al. There is not much new here, though there is a good scene helping to see that Sam was both the driving force for the project and saw something in Al. It takes a certain guy to keep going through time and Sam is that guy.
That is not to say that the wiring is not sharp. Margaret has a lot of innuendos and some of the fans are rowdy. There is a good amount of filler, but it is good filler. We have a diner scene early on which establishes the bond Chucky and Sam will have along with the problems Chucky has to face. One thinks that they may have needed to fill the page, but it is done well.
Thankfully, the acting lives up to the words on the page. McDonough shows why he would go on to be in the genre, even expanding to shows like Desperate Housewives. He is a young guy with everything to prove but no opportunity to take advantage of it. Casey Ander is the dad who watches from afar and is the best portrayal in that role since James Whitmore Jr. You can see him wanting to be with his son while being forced to retrain himself. It does hurt when Sam says that newspaper clippings and picture are not the same as knowing your son. It is telling in the end when the two reunite and it is not outwardly stated that they are related. McDonough and Ander play that moment well. Courtney Gerhart is perfectly flirty as Bunny and Maree Cheatham plays al older southern seductress well as Margaret. Sam sits in her office, and she just calmly cleans off the desk to get ready. Don Stroud yells at people for the hour as Coach and is having a blast.
I did not think I would have so much praise to put onto this episode before putting my thoughts down, but this is a much more enjoyable episode than what I originally thought.
Original Air Date: September 25, 1991
Written by: Tommy Thompson
Directed by: Joe Napolitano
Leap Date: August 6, 1961
This time: Sam leaps into Doc, a baseball player for the Mustangs. Doc was a major league pitcher but wound up back in the minors. The Mustang’s coach asks him to sub in for a hitter. Doc is a famed pitcher but not that great of a hitter, though Sam does almost manage a home run. A fellow player/young buck named Chucky takes a bit of a shine to Sam afterwards. It also seems as though Chucky has drinking and anger problems. Al arrives and says that Sam needs to get Doc back to the majors. On a hunch, Sam asks Al to look into Chucky.
Back at their team base, Sam sees the owner of the team, Margaret Twilly. She keeps Doc on the team in exchange for ‘favors.’ This is music to Al’s ears (once he realizes that the owner is a woman!) since Sam can be on the starting roster. An impromptu lesson from Al later and he can pitch like a pro. As good as Sam is, that is nothing compared to Chucky, though Al says Chucky gets washed out in no small part to him fooling around with team girlfriend and Twilly’s daughter, Bunny.
There is a playoff game coming up and Sam ‘finds a way’ to start. Chucky is despondent since scouts will be there. Also, Al finds Chucky’s dad, Warren. Warren walked out on the family and has no interest in rekindling things with Chucky since Warren cannot help Chucky financially any more than he could in the past. He has kept up with Chucky’s career, even going so far as to travel to games.
Needing to keep Chucky on the team, Sam sneaks into the Twilly residence to get Chucky out. Bunny catches him and anticipates some fun. Before he can talk his was out, Margaret comes in and kicks them off the team.
At the playoff game, Chucky (filled in by Bunny) tells Sam that there are no hard feelings, though he was passed out while it happened. Margaret arrives, makes a good show of the New York Yankee’s scout, and heads off to wish her team luck. Al arrives and wonders why Sam is not in uniform. It turns out that several players are pulled due to legal issues. Since they cannot play with a roster of eight, the guys are put in.
The game goes well, so well that it mimics the original history. Needing to make a difference, Sam takes himself out giving Chucky a shot. The game goes well, and Sam makes the winning catch. The scout gives him a chance and Sam gets a job as a pitching coach. Warren stops by and reunites with his son. Sam leaps …
.. into a deputy sheriff helping a woman get things together. The area is windy which makes sense for the coming hurricane.
Fact Check: Pete Rose gets a name check though this leap is a good two years before he even started to play professionally.
Stop talking to yourself: Sam talks about being ready at a moment’s notice whereupon the pitcher quickly throws a ball at him. Why this is not considered a foul is an exercise for the viewer.
Only Sam can see and hear: For the baseball episode, Al busts out his old uniform from his playing for the navy.
Mirror images that were not his own: Leaping in with a mouth full of chewing tobacco, Sam spits it into a nearby sink and sees Doc in the mirror when he looks up.
Something or someone: Sam gets to stick around for Chucky to toss him a baseball.
It’s a science project: Al gives Sam a technical lesson on how to pitch.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow: Al tries to hide Chucky’s father from Sam but Ziggy/Gooshie keeps on sending messages to the handlink via boops and beeps.
Let’s up the rating: After seeing himself, Bunny walks in and quickly removes her dress. Later at the diner, we get a nice shot of the waitress’s bust as she goes by the camera. Finally, Margaret makes a pass at Sam. It is a triple play!
One more time: “What did dragon lady want?” “She just wanted to talk about my … performance.”
Al wanting to know what happened and Sam pulling a double entendre.
The Rainbow Treknection: Before playing Hawk in First Contact, Neil McDonough was Chucky in this episode.
Trivial Matters: For the second episode in a row this season, Sam does not say the titular phrase of this rewatch alone in the teaser. That honor goes to the bat boy who walks in on him after Bunny takes off her dress.
The mustang’s mascot is a pig (they can barely afford uniforms let alone a horse) who does a great job of getting dirty. It happens off camera during a commercial break, though the dialogue does not indicate any time passes.
Put right what once went wrong: “Can this wait until after the game?” “The United Stated Immigration Department does not wait for anything.” “But this is baseball.” “And this is a warrant.” One of the things I gave the pilot, Genesis, a lot of flack for was giving the baseball plot a short shrift with twenty paltry minutes. Just like The Next Generation took the time to build on the first season for their fourth season (revisiting Lore, The Traveler, etc.) so did Quantum Leap.
The writing is a hodgepodge of what we have seen before. Sam getting seduced, absent parent deciding to be more involved, pretty much the entire portion of the plot from the pilot expanded upon with the exception of Sam telling Al that Chucky reminds him of a young Al. There is not much new here, though there is a good scene helping to see that Sam was both the driving force for the project and saw something in Al. It takes a certain guy to keep going through time and Sam is that guy.
That is not to say that the wiring is not sharp. Margaret has a lot of innuendos and some of the fans are rowdy. There is a good amount of filler, but it is good filler. We have a diner scene early on which establishes the bond Chucky and Sam will have along with the problems Chucky has to face. One thinks that they may have needed to fill the page, but it is done well.
Thankfully, the acting lives up to the words on the page. McDonough shows why he would go on to be in the genre, even expanding to shows like Desperate Housewives. He is a young guy with everything to prove but no opportunity to take advantage of it. Casey Ander is the dad who watches from afar and is the best portrayal in that role since James Whitmore Jr. You can see him wanting to be with his son while being forced to retrain himself. It does hurt when Sam says that newspaper clippings and picture are not the same as knowing your son. It is telling in the end when the two reunite and it is not outwardly stated that they are related. McDonough and Ander play that moment well. Courtney Gerhart is perfectly flirty as Bunny and Maree Cheatham plays al older southern seductress well as Margaret. Sam sits in her office, and she just calmly cleans off the desk to get ready. Don Stroud yells at people for the hour as Coach and is having a blast.
I did not think I would have so much praise to put onto this episode before putting my thoughts down, but this is a much more enjoyable episode than what I originally thought.
New places for old(er) keywords: Continuing Mission
Cardassians and Federation posturing it out: Showdown: Four Lights
Cardassians and Federation posturing it out: Showdown: Four Lights