Play Ball

Any storyline that involves playing baseball or softball. Usually the gang forms a softball team and plays a big game against their rivals.

Seinfeld

Appearances

• The Munsters: Season 1, episode 29, "Herman the Rookie" (1965). While Herman's playing catch with Eddie, Leo Durocher notices his baseball skills and trains him to play with the Dodgers.
• WKRP in Cincinnati: Season 2, episode 3, "Baseball" (1979). Les challenges WPIG to a softball game, and talks the rest of the WKRP gang into playing because he never got a chance to play sports as a kid.
• Domestic Life: Episode 10, "Harold at Bat" (1984). The whole Crane family is excited about Harold's baseball team making the playoffs—except Harold. He doesn't want to play because he thinks he stinks and the other kids make fun of him, but Martin talks him into it, and Harold proves he was right.
• Perfect Strangers: Season 2, episode 3, "The Unnatural" (1986). Mr. Twinkacetti is sponsoring a softball team with Larry as the manager and Balki as the water boy, scorekeeper, and head cheerleader. When the team's star player can't make the championship game, Balki begs Larry to let him play; Larry agrees, but at the last minute, Mr. Twinkacetti gets a skilled player to join the team, so Larry tries to keep Balki on the bench for the whole game.
• Seinfeld: Season 6, episode 8, "The Mom & Pop Store" (1994). Kramer is hit in the head at a Yankees fantasy camp after charging the mound and trying to fight back against Joe Pepitone, resulting in Kramer's hearing issues, which later create confusion when he's asked if he's going to a discount shoe store.
• Seinfeld: Season 6, episode 23, "The Understudy" (1995). Jerry and George's softball team plays against "Rochelle, Rochelle: The Musical," which stars Bette Midler in the title role, and George's slide into home plate injures Bette so she can't perform.
• Frasier: Season 4, episode 16, "The Unnatural" (1997). Roz has to sit out the next KACL team softball game, and Frederick wants Frasier to fill in for her, but Frasier doesn't want Frederick know that he sucks at sports, so he asks Martin to teach him how to play. Unfortunately, he just doesn't have a knack for it, so he has to tell Frederick the truth.
• Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place: Season 1, episode 6, "Two Guys, a Girl and a Softball Team" (1998). Pete and Berg decide to start a co-ed softball team as a way to meet women, and they talk Bill into sponsoring it. Meanwhile, Mr. Bauer thinks he's in Field of Dreams and The Natural.
• Just Shoot Me!: Season 3, episode 21, "Softball" (1999). The gang is pumped for the big softball game against Cosmo, but Maya doesn't want to play because she says she doesn't like competition. Everyone assumed it's because she sucks. When Jack is late to practice, Maya fills in and the gang discovers she's an incredible pitcher, but the competition gets to her and turns her into a monster.
• Dharma & Greg: Season 4, episode 3, "Playing the Field" (2000). Greg fills in for Abby on the educational co-op softball team, and he's annoyed by how terrible every single person on the team is, so he tries to educate them about the game and get them to at least try to win. At their next game, they still lose, but thanks to Greg, they feel badly about it.
• Malcolm in the Middle: Season 5, episode 12, "Softball" (2004). Lois is coaching the Lucky Aide softball team, and she manipulates Malcolm into joining. The day of their big game, the other team is short a player, so Lois makes Malcolm join their team, and Lois stresses him out so much that Malcolm plays worse than he ever has, and Lois's team wins.