Release Date:

September 4, 1954

Main Character(s):

Bobo the Elephant

Summary:

In a baseball game against the Greenville Goons, the Sweetwater Schnooks are easily beaten and also tormented by the Goons. When it looks as though the Schnooks will have to forfeit, they bring in their mascot, Bobo the Elephant, to become pitcher and then batter for their team. Despite being a beginner, Bobo proves to be a more than excellent ball player.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1292 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. In September 2020, the original opening and closing rings were found.

The cartoon is a follow-up to “Hobo Bobo” from seven years earlier (it’s also the same amount of years between the release of “Toy Story 4” in 2019 to the upcoming “Toy Story 5” this year in 2026). Interestingly, while Bobo desires to be a baseball player in the previous cartoon, here he DOES become a player and a hero as well.

Bobo also doesn’t speak in this cartoon.

The Goons behave in a way similar to the Gas House Gorillas in “Baseball Bugs”. The “Ball!” and slow ball gags are also reused from that cartoon.

Ben Washam co-wrote this cartoon with Sid Marcus, marking one of the few times Washam was involved with a cartoon outside of Jones’ unit and the only Warner cartoon he contributed to but didn’t animate on.

The Goons share the same character design as the construction worker from “No Parking Hare”.

The title alludes to going batty as in going crazy.

The cartoon was originally titled “Trunk Full of Curves”.

At one point, an ad for “Cohen Ties” is seen. This is a reference to Herman Cohen.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here

Favorite Scene:

“THERE’S NOTHING IN THE RULE BOOK THAT SAYS AN ELEPHANT CAN’T PITCH!”

What Happens in This One:

“Championship Baseball Today” is the headline of a newspaper showing photos of both the Goons and the Schnooks, along with an article, “Goons Favored Over Schnooks”. After closeups of both photos, the photo of the Schnooks fades into them doing their photo poses in real life with the Goons heard laughing at them (animated by Charles McKimson). The Goons make fun of them too, “Get a load of them characters!”; “Hey, Grandpa! Did you get a banjo with that outfit?” (animated by Rod Scribner) The Schnooks retort in unison, “Sticks and stones may break our bones but names will never hurt us. Nyah!” (animated by Charles)

The umpire yells, “Play ball!” as the announcer begins, “Well, folks, the game gets underway. The Schnooks at bat. Gus Marblehead of the Goons pitching. Gus goes into the windup, here comes the pitch, looks like a low ball”. The low ball literally burrows underground so the Schnook batting replaces his bat with a golf club and hits the ball out for a home run, but the Goons run out all the way to the point of pushing one part of the bleachers out of the stadium and still catching the ball. The umpire calls, “You’re out!” (animated by Charles)

Next is “Joe Lob at bat. He has a 9,000 average”. Lob manages to hit it, run to all the bases, and slide home, only for a Goon to whack him on the head several times with his bat. The Goon tells the umpire, “He’s out!”, but the umpire argues, “Oh, no, he’s not!” In response, the Goon hits Lob on the head very hard, with the umpire reacting in half-horrified half-disgusted shock at Lob’s offscreen state, “Yeeee! NOW he’s out” (animated by Scribner).

The announcer lets out a “Whew!” before continuing, “What a game, folks! Going into the ninth inning, the score is deadlocked! 167 to nothing! (animated by Charles) The Goons at bat and still going strong. There’s the pitch”. This Goon misses, causing the umpire to declare, “Strike 1!” The Goon goes up to him and pounds him into the ground, “What did you say!?” In embarrassed fear, the umpire corrects himself, “Gracious! I don’t know what EVER came over me! Ball 1” (animated by Scribner).

The next Goon at bat sneers, “Watch me clear the bench!” and hits the ball towards four Schnooks sitting on the bench. They all duck their heads into their uniforms just as the ball whizzes atop them, but when their heads emerge, they all grow lumps, and fall backwards one by one. “Some more Schnooks just bit the dust! But Fauntleroy Flip, their star pitcher, still survives”. The Goon at bat yells, “Come on, bean-head! Right down the alley!” Announcer: “There’s the pitch. He swings and-” Umpire: “Ball!” Flip goes up to the umpire and tells him in a slightly annoyed manner, “That was a strike”. The Goon who got the strike taps Flip on the shoulder, bends his bat back, and releases it so that it pounds Flip on the head three times rapidly. Flip calmly tells the Goon, “I don’t like you” before collapsing backward (animated by Scribner).

The announcer laments, “There goes the last of the Schnooks’ pitchers. Well, folks, it looks like they’ll have to give up. And so, it-”, before he makes a take, “Jumpin’ Jee-hoshaphat! They’re putting the mascot into the game!” (animated by Charles) Said mascot is revealed to be Bobo, “He’s going to pitch for the Schnooks!” Flip walks up to Bobo and encourages him, “Now don’t be scared, Bobo. Here, take the ball”, which Bobo does. The Goons all rant indistinctly about an elephant pitching before the umpire shuts them up by yelling, “Quiet! Quiet! QUIET!” at the top of his voice and then giving a hilarious chant, “THERE’S NOTHING IN THE RULE BOOK THAT SAYS AN ELEPHANT CAN’T PITCH!” He then shouts, “Now, PLAY BALL!” (animated by Phil DeLara)

The next Goon at bat yells, “Okay, Fatso! Give with the pitch!” Bobo hesitates, with Flip telling him, “Bobo, throw the ball. Throw it”. The Goon sneers in response, “(laughs) What’s the matter, elephant? Ya chicken or something?” Flip jabs Bobo in the rear with a pin, causing Bobo to pitch the ball so fast, it burns the Goon’s bat, giving him a strike. The Goon throws his burned bat down in anger, and takes out several bats before pulling them all down like a banana peel, revealing a metal bat inside. “Okay, lucky!” Flip encourages, “Come on, Bobo, old kid, old boy! Give him another!” Feeling a lot more confident, Bobo nods and gives another hard pitch. The Goon hitting the ball with his metal bat causes him to vibrate and his clothes to fall off, stripping him down to his yellow underwear with red rhombuses. Realizing this, his body turns a very light purple in embarrassment (animated by Herman Cohen).

Flip whispers something in Bobo’s ear, which Bobo nods in agreement to. “Here comes the pitch. It’s a slow ball”, where Bobo winds up the ball, leaves it in mid-air, and lightly taps it with his trunk, so that it moves very slowly and strikes out three Goons at once, with the last one throwing down his bat in anger (animated by DeLara).

“The Goons struck out. Schnooks now at bat. Attention, please! Due to a shortage of players, Bobo will bat for the entire team”. After giving him the bat, Flip tells him, “Now, now, don’t get nervous. W-wait for the ball. When it comes in, hit it! Understand?” Bobo nods in hesitation. “On the mound, it’s Cannonball Pete. There’s the windup. And here comes the pitch”. Pete’s arm literally blasts the ball towards Bobo, with his arm shooting off like an actual cannon. Bobo manages to hit the ball, and while he runs to the bases, three outfielder Goons attempt to catch the ball, only for it to zoom through all their gloves and create holes in each. Bobo’s attempt to slide home results in him burrowing underground before popping up under home base. This manages to give the Schnooks 1 point, “A terrific play! Bobo just scored!” (animated by DeLara)

“He’s up at bat again, waiting for the throw”. While he’s at bat, Bobo watches in shock at what the Goons are planning: they drill a hole into the ball with a corkscrew and place a TNT stick in it. The Goons’ catcher walks up to his spot and says, “Come on, old kid, old boy, old boy! Give ‘em the old pepper! The old pepper!” Bobo intentionally lets himself miss this one by walking away and allowing the catcher to get the explosion instead. After it blows up in his face, the dazed catcher continues, “That’s the old pepper, boy!” before groaning and slumping down (animated by Charles).

Two Goons come in with a bazooka to send tons of balls firing towards Bobo, whose persistent swinging allows him to hit every single ball. Numerous Goon fielders chase the balls, with one yelling, “I got it!” several times, only to be burrowed headfirst into the ground. “He got it”. Thanks to Bobo’s repeated hits, he manages to score 104 runs in this inning, to which the impressed announcer chuckles, “Not bad for a beginner” (animated by DeLara).

Bobo is still whacking the rapidly incoming balls, which two Goons attempt to catch while running in opposite directions in front of each other. Due to not paying attention at where they’re going, they crash head-on and end up becoming conjoined and distorted as they ask in unison, “Which way did he go? Which way did he go?” (animated by Scribner)

“Flash! 63 more runs just came in”, making the score tied. Flip informs Bobo, “You made 167 runs in this inning. We need one more to win. Can you do it?” Bobo nods confidently. A Goon ties a rope around Bobo’s leg to prevent him from running, so that when Bobo makes another hit, he is unable to run to the bases. Bobo doesn’t let that stop him, and he uses his trunk to go around the bases like little legs. Announcer: “The Goons’ outfielder retrieves the ball and sends it home!” Bobo’s trunk slides into home just one second before the Goons’ catcher gets the ball. The umpire declares Bobo, “Safe!” With the score being 168 to 167, “The Schnooks win! What a game! What a game!” (animated by Cohen)

A few days later, an old man walks up to a proud Flip, “Ya sure got a great ball player in that elephant”. Flip agrees, “You can say that again. And he works for peanuts”. The last shot reveals Bobo sitting atop a large pile of peanuts and happily snacking on them (animated by Charles).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½