History YMMV / TheSimpsonsS3E17HomerAtTheBat

* HilariousInHindsight: Don Mattingly, who was forced to shave off his "sideburns" by Mr. Burns during the episode, would later have an actual "haircut controversy", while he was playing for the New York Yankees. The coaching staff forced him to cut his long hair and was briefly dropped from the team line-up for not doing so. Many people believed the joke in the episode to be a reference to the incident, but "Homer at the Bat" was recorded a year before it happened.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** Seeing Jose Canseco lifting all those heavy appliances out of a house fire has a different meaning now, after it was revealed that he was using steroids throughout his career. The same arguably applies to Roger Clemens throwing a pitch that destroyed Wonderbat.
** Darryl Strawberry's "misfortune" consists of being benched by Burns in favor of Homer during the last play of the championship game. Since retiring, he's suffered a long list of serious health problems and legal troubles, possibly the worst out of any of the players who guest-starred in this episode and he's also the only one who didn't take part in the follow-up {{Mockumentary}}.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The last active player depicted in the episode was Ken Griffey Jr., who retired in 2010.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** Seeing Jose Canseco lifting all those heavy appliances out of a house fire has a different meaning now, after it was revealed that he was using steroids throughout his career. The same arguably applies to Roger Clemens throwing a pitch that destroyed Wonderbat.
** Darryl Strawberry's "misfortune" consists of being benched by Burns in favor of Homer during the last play of the championship game. Since retiring, he's suffered a long list of serious health problems and legal troubles, possibly the worst out of any of the players who guest-starred in this episode and he's also the only one who didn't take part in the follow-up {{Mockumentary}}.

* GrowingTheBeard: Though debated (some argue earlier, some argue later), this is one of the episodes that classic-era fans point to as the start of the "golden age". Earlier episodes were by no means bad, but at this point the show had not just found its footing, but was running circles around every other sitcom on TV. The golden run wouldn't stop until season 8 - 10 (or further, depending on who you ask).

* WeirdAlEffect: "Talkin' Softball" by singer-songwriter Terry Cashman, which closes out the episode, is a plot-specific rewrite of his "Talkin' Baseball" songs from TheEighties.[[labelnote:Explanation]]In 1981 Cashman released "Willie, Mickey & The Duke (Talkin' Baseball)", a nostalgic ListSong celebration of baseball in TheFifties. It was a minor pop hit, but became a huge cult favorite among baseball fans, and Cashman ultimately recorded rewritten versions about every Major League team.[[/labelnote]] Cashman has noted that today more people are familiar with "Talkin' Softball" than any of the originals.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: This is the first episode to really use a lot of guest stars as a selling point, and in this case, they weren't even actors. It's still considered a great episode (even if there were [[TroubledProduction a lot of behind-the-scenes problems]] and two of the regular voice actors [along with one of the celebrity guest stars] for the show have gone on record to say the episode was awful), though, thanks to all the AdamWesting and the fact that the main role of the guest stars in the episode is to suffer absurd fates rather than them being idolized.

* GeniusBonus: Quite a few for baseball fans. For instance, Darryl Strawberry being a kiss-ass is a joke based on the fact the real man had trouble listening to managers during his career and Wade Boggs hanging out in Moe's is a reference to the UrbanLegends surrounding Boggs and the amount of beer he can drink (later mentioned on the ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' episodes, "The Gang Beats Boggs" and "The Gang Beats Boggs: Ladies' Reboot").

* OneSceneWonder: The ballpark peanut salesman who chucks peanut bags indiscriminately.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Mike Scioscia accepted his guest spot in "half a second," while Ozzie Smith has said he would like to guest star again "so [he] can get out [of the Springfield Mystery spot]".

** Darryl Strawberry's "misfortune" consists of being benched by Burns in favor of Homer during the last play of the championship game. Since retiring, he's suffered a long list of serious health problems and legal troubles, possibly the worst out of any of the players who guest-starred in this episode.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** Seeing Jose Canseco lifting all those heavy appliances out of a house fire has a different meaning now, after it was revealed that he was using steroids throughout his career. The same arguably applies to Roger Clemens throwing a pitch that destroyed Wonderbat.
** Darryl Strawberry's "misfortune" consists of being benched by Burns in favor of Homer during the last play of the championship game. Since retiring, he's suffered a long list of serious health problems and legal troubles, possibly the worst out of any of the players who guest-starred in this episode.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: This is the first episode to really use a lot of guest stars as a selling point, and in this case, they weren't even actors. It's still considered a great episode, though, thanks to all the AdamWesting and the fact that the main role of the guest stars in the episode is to suffer absurd fates rather than them being idolised.
* GeniusBonus: Quite a few for baseball fans. For instance, Darryl Strawberry being a kiss ass is a joke based on the fact the real man had trouble listening to managers during his career and Wade Boggs hanging out in Moe's is a reference to the UrbanLegends surrounding Boggs and the amount of beer he can drink.

** Darryl Strawberry's "misfortune" consists of being benched by Burns in favor of Homer during the last play of the championship game. Since retiring, he's suffered a long list of serious health problems and legal troubles, possibly the worst out of any of the players who guest starred in this episode.
* HilariousInHindsight: Don Mattingly, who was forced to shave off his "sideburns" by Mr. Burns during the episode, would later have an actual "haircut controversy", while he was playing for the New York Yankees. The coaching staff forced him to cut his long hair, and was briefly dropped from the team line-up for not doing so. Many people believed the joke in the episode to be a reference to the incident, but "Homer at the Bat" was recorded a year before it happened.

* OneSceneWonder: The peanut guy.

* MemeticMutation: "LOOOORD PALMERSTON!!"

* FranchiseOriginalSin: This is the first episode to really use a lot of guest stars as a selling point, and in this case, they weren't even actors. It's still considered a great episode, though, thanks to all the AdamWesting and the fact that the main role of the guest stars in the episode is to suffer absurd fates rather than them being lionized.

* HarsherInHindsight: Seeing Jose Canseco lifting all those heavy appliances out of a house fire has a different meaning now, after it was revealed that he was using steroids throughout his career. The same arguably applies to Roger Clemens throwing a pitch that destroyed Wonderbat.

* HarsherInHindsight: Seeing Jose Canseco lifting all those heavy appliances out of a house fire has a different meaning now, after it was revealed that he was using steroids throughout his career.

* TheCSIEffect: There have been at least two reported incidents of people saving someone else's life due to being able to use the Heimlich maneuver which they learned from watching the episode, although it wasn't actually used in this episode by anyone, but rather displayed for a few seconds by a poster on the wall in the background while Homer was choking and in need of the assistance.

* HarsherInHindsight: Seeing Jose Canseco lifting all those heavy appliances out of a house fire has a different meaning now, after it was revealed that he was using steroids throughout his career.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Everyone who wins in this episode does it despite their actions not because of them Mr Burns wins despite his terrible managerial skills, Homer wins without trying and the powerplant gets a championship they don’t deserve. So the aesope of the episode seems to be never try