Tag Archives: Bizarre Baseball Culture

BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE 2.0: “Mr. Go” is about a GORILLA PLAYING BASEBALL IN KOREA

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball In Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0, I take an updated look at some of the more unusual places that I previously covered where baseball has reared its head in pop culture and fiction. In the process, I clean up some mistakes of mine and add some more perspective.

NOTE: The original form of this post ran here. It has some grammatical mistakes and out-of-date information that has been corrected in this post but remains up for posterity. In addition, I have added some extra stuff.

In 2019, the Bong Joon-ho film Parasite took the world by storm. The tale of a poor Korean family that integrates its way into the life of a wealthy family, it became the first film not in the English language to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It spurred a greater appreciation and interest in Korean cinema amongst cinephiles and even general audiences.

This post is not about that film. No, this is about the exact opposite of the award-winning works of Bong Joon-Ho. This is a post about the 2013 film Mr. Go, a Korean-Chinese co-production (more on that later) about a gorilla trained to play baseball.

This was a film much beloved by people throughout the baseball internet at one point for the sheer curiosity factor of its existence. Places like the now-defunct Big League Stew did posts about it, but few actually saw it. I, however, was able to procure a copy of the film in 2014. It was in the form of a DVD from Hong Kong, acquired from a Canadian seller on eBay. All for you, the readership of the Baseball Continuum (and anybody who found this link). Times have changed since 2014, though. Now, you can watch it streaming for free (with advertisements) on the Amazon FreeVee service and on Tubi.

So, buckle up. Below the jump, we dive deep into Mr. Go. Prepare yourself, because gorilla baseball, MLB cameos, banana-shaped thunderstix, pizza commercials, a bullpen-cart chase, and other madness awaits you:

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Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0: Action Comics #50 has Superman being a Superjerk

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0, I take an updated look at some of the more unusual places that I previously covered where baseball has reared its head in pop culture and fiction. In the process, I clean up some mistakes of mine and add some more perspective.

NOTE: The original form of this post ran here. It has some grammatical mistakes and out-of-date information that has been corrected in this post, but remains up for posterity. In addition, I have taken time to replace most of the pictures in this post with better digital copies.

Superman. Contrary to popular belief, he was not the first superhero, but he was the first to truly make an impact. First appearing in Action Comics #1, he has influenced every superhero since. While it has been awhile since he was the most popular hero, his influence is felt to this day across the world.

Today, we are focusing on the past with Action Comics #50, way back in July, 1942. I read it initially in The Superman Chronicles Volume Nine, which I got from my local library. In the original posting of this installment, the scans were from that. This time, however, I have updated most of the photos with screenshots from this issue on DC’s DC Universe Infinite service. The only exceptions are the ones linked to in the text (since they usually are so small in scale that it doesn’t make that much of a difference). All scans and screenshots are for educational or demonstration purposes only and are being used under the fair use doctrine. Also, I’d like to note that Michael Clair has also covered this story, so check that out too.

Anyway, go below the jump:

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Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0: Spider-Man, Uncle Ben, and the Mets

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0, I take an updated look at some of the more unusual places that I previously covered where baseball has reared its head in pop culture and fiction. In the process, I clean up some mistakes of mine and add some more perspective.

Note: The original version of this post can be found here. It has some mistakes and out-of-date information that has been corrected in this post, but remains up for posterity.

As the latest Spider-Man film continues to break records, there is perhaps no better way to start up Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0 than by renovating one of my old posts about the web-slinger. Now, ole’ Web-Head is no stranger to Bizarre Baseball Culture, having had shown up on several occasions (including fighting Doctor Doom alongside Billy the Marlin), but those were generally promotional comics that happened to feature Spider-Man. Peter Parker Spider-Man (Volume 2) #33, by contrast, is canon. It happened in the main Marvel Universe and presumably could be referenced by any writer working in those stories today. This issue from 2001 is about Peter Parker’s relation with his late Uncle Ben, and how baseball was a bond between them.

Now, before we begin, I’d like to write a bit about Spider-Man in general. What made the Marvel characters different when they first started appearing in the 1960s was that they were, in general, more relatable and flawed than the DC counterparts and the Marvel superheroes that had been created in the 30s and 40s. The Fantastic Four was often bickering with each other (like an family does), the X-Men were shunned by most of society (Stan Lee has said that being a mutant is basically meant to be a stand-in for being a minority), the Hulk was shunned by basically all of society… and Spider-Man, for lack of a better term, was a loser.

Okay, maybe not a loser, but definitely the closest thing there had been up to that point: an unpopular kid with no parents, only one family member of any sort (Aunt May) and little money. To make matters worse, when supervillains weren’t coming after him, the press and/or the police were. If things could go wrong for Peter Parker, they probably have. Parents? Dead. Uncle? Dead. Aunt? Perpetually sick. First true love (Gwen Stacy)? Murdered (and, amazingly, never came back to life). Second true love (Mary Jane)? Marriage magically annulled in a story far too stupid to talk about. At one point in the not-that-distant past poor Peter Parker evensaw his body body-snatched by Doctor Ocopus while he was forced to die in “Doc Ock’s” cancer-ridden body (don’t worry, he got better). But all of this pales in comparison to the greatest, most horrible fate to ever fall upon Spider-Man:

Being a fan of the New York Mets.

(JUMP)

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BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: Baseball with Galactus in Marvel Adventures Avengers #26

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! Avengers: Endgame is breaking all of the box office records, so now is as good of a time as any to bring you a Bizarre Baseball Culture look at a truly bizarre Avengers tale: 2008’s Marvel Adventures The Avengers Volume 1 #26, in which baseball helps our heroes save a planet from Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds.

Well, sort of. It’s more of a non-sequitur thrown in to justify this awesome cover:

Image of cover of magazine, featuring Galactus looking down at the Silver Surfer, Hulk and Spider-Man playing baseball.

And… I’m totally fine with that! It is available to read for Marvel Unlimited subscribers here. Head below the jump for more of this piece:

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Bizarre Baseball Culture: What does “The White Killer” have to do with Baseball?

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

Way back in the ninth installment of this series, I mentioned how one of the archtypes of superheroes is the patriotic hero. The most notable, of course, is Captain America, but there have been others: The Shield (who starred in that comic), Uncle Sam, Miss America, the Fighting Yank, etc.

This time in Bizarre Baseball Culture, we look at a comic involving one of the lesser patriotic heroes, one relegated (probably with good reason) to the dustbin of comic book history: U.S. Jones. He got his powers- whatever they are (they aren’t really expanded upon) from a scientist, and he fights enemies of America during WWII, as one does. This is what he looks like on the cover of the comic that contained this story, called “The White Killer”:

Wow, what a horrible costume. It’s somebody ate an American flag and then vomited upon Jones’ skin. And then there’s the U and S upon his chest. You know, in case you didn’t get that he was themed for the United States of America by the fact that his costume looks like he did stuff to a flag forbidden by the US Flag Code.

Anyway, the comic, from Wonderworld Comics #33, can be found here. It is in the public domain.

Go below the jump for more.

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BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: Strange Tales #36 “The Discovery”

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

Yeah, so that Power Rangers series I promised I’d finish two years ago? You’re going to keep waiting. Today, we’re going to the 1950s to read a story from Marvel’s Strange Tales #36, circa 1955. Well, sort of, you see, this is actually a story from Atlas Comics, which is what Marvel was called at the time. It’s a short, four-page story in the middle of an issue full of them, and calls to mind later stories like the Sidd Finch hoax… and how it could go horribly wrong, especially if he wasn’t used right.

Go below the jump for more:

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BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: Shift into the baseball episode of “Power Ranger Turbo”

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Due to a mix of the WBC, Out of the Park Baseball (review next Friday!) and Zelda, I’ve been slacking a bit on the Bizarre Baseball Culture front, so…

In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

In honor of the Power Rangers reboot we didn’t ask for (which I also haven’t seen yet), the Baseball Continuum is going through the baseball episodes of the Power Rangers franchise. Previously, we looked at episodes from the original Mighty Morphin series and the Zeo series. This time, we are looking at an episode from the series that followed Zeo: Power Rangers Turbo. Adapted from the Sentai series Gekisou Sentai Carranger, the series first aired in 1997, well after I had stopped watching Power Rangers. In fact, this will be the first Power Rangers series entry for Bizarre Baseball Culture where my knowledge is almost entirely from what I find on the internet.

The theme song, however, remains catchy:

So, head below the jump for more on the Turbo episode “The Curve Ball”.

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BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: Power Rangers Zeo in the Outfield

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

In honor of the Power Rangers reboot we didn’t ask for, the Baseball Continuum is going through the baseball episodes of the Power Rangers franchise. Last time, we looked at an episode from the original Mighty Morphin series. This time, we are looking at an episode from its immediate successor: Power Rangers Zeo, which first aired in 1996 and adapted the Sentai series Chouriki Sentai Ohranger.

Now, by this time the Power Rangers franchise’s fad stage was coming to a swift end, and I personally stopped watching for one reason or another sometime during this series. And while I can’t remember much about it, I can remember that the theme song, like the original Mighty Morphin theme song, was catchy.

So, anyway, head below the jump for a look at the Power Rangers Zeo episode entitled “Rangers in the Outfield.”

screen-shot-2017-03-01-at-11-53-32-am

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BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: The Power Rangers take on Babe Ruthless (with a special bonus!)

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

Nostalgia is a word made up of a Greek word for “homecoming” and a Greek word for “pain”. Normally, nostalgia is used as a word to mean an aching for going back home, or the general past. Given the roots of the word, though, you could make a case that it also means the pain that comes from a homecoming, like when you watch what was your favorite show when you were five in advance of a big-budget movie reboot  and see just how stupid and inane it was.

Yes, it is time to head onto Netflix as we start a look at the baseball episodes of the Power Rangers franchise, beginning with the 32nd episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “A Star is Born”.

screen-shot-2017-02-06-at-11-37-51-amMay the power protect us… after the jump.

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BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: Take “The Human Target” Out To The Ballgame

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

Comic Book universes are huge and diverse, going through countless genres and containing both nitty-gritty realism and utterly fantastic science fiction or fantasy. And yet, they all take place in the same universe, no matter how different they seem. You can get a idea of just how crazy this is by looking at Marvel’s movie/TV empire, where Daredevil and Guardians of the Galaxy are both taking place in the same universe despite the fact that one of them is about a guy beating up mob bosses (and the occasional ninja) while the other one has both a talking raccoon and a talking tree.

However, as a result of this, sometimes characters get lost in the shuffle. They are technically part of the universe, but they rarely interact with it. Maybe it’s because their adventures are on the more mature side, maybe they are stuck in another dimension that the usual heroes don’t go to so often, or maybe, they aren’t seen because that’s just the way they want it…

Such is the case of Christopher Chance, AKA the Human Target. He’s not a completely unknown character- he’s been the subject of two short-lived shows based on his comics (the most notable being a two-season FOX series starring Mark Valley and James Earle Haley), but he’s firmly in the D-list of DC Comics. And those were both pretty different from the comics and had little indication of taking place in a world of DC Comics. In fact, when it was announced that the Human Target would be coming to Arrow, some people were surprised to find out that he even was a DC character. That’s probably because he doesn’t interact with the rest of the DC Universe all that much. Or maybe he does, but we just don’t know it.

Because, you see, the Human Target is a master of disguise. He becomes the would-be assassination victim using heavy prosthetic-work and a knack for copying voices and body language. And in this installment of Bizarre Baseball Culture, Christopher Chance figuratively steps up to the plate:

Screen Shot 2016-08-19 at 10.29.36 AM Screen Shot 2016-08-19 at 10.30.43 AMGO BELOW THE JUMP FOR MORE:

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