Baseball Bugs is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical animated cartoon directed by Friz Freleng.[1] The short was released on February 2, 1946, and stars Bugs Bunny.[2]
In the short, Bugs Bunny singlehandedly defeats the "Gas-House Gorillas", a baseball team of hulking, cigar-chomping bullies. The cartoon has been called Bugs "at his best" and is still referenced by baseball fans and observers.[3][4][5]
Baseball Bugs was directed by Friz Freleng and written by Michael Maltese. Voice characterizations were performed by Mel Blanc, with additional uncredited performances by Bea Benaderet as Lady Liberty, and Tedd Pierce as the stadium announcer and several of the Gas-House Gorillas.
The cartoon's title is a double play on words. "Bugs" was then a common nickname for someone who was considered to be crazy, erratic, or fanatical. In addition to its adjective form being the indirect inspiration for the Bunny's name, the noun form was sometimes applied to sports fans.
A baseball game is going on in New York City at the Polo Grounds (but the depiction of the frieze on the top deck was borrowed from Yankee Stadium), between the visiting Gas-House Gorillas (a parody of the real life Gashouse Gang which was the nickname of the St. Louis Cardinals teams of the early 1930s who were known for their shabby and unkempt appearance) and the home team, the Tea Totallers. The game is not going well for the home team as the Gorillas, a group of oversized rough-necks, are not only dominating the Tea Totallers, a team made up of just one elderly player, but intimidating the umpire by knocking him into the ground like a tent peg after he makes a "ball" judgment instead of a "strike". The Gorillas' home runs go screaming, literally, out of the ballpark and the batters form a conga line, each hitter whacking a ball out.
Bugs Bunny, watching from his hole in the outfield, is fed up with the unfair game and the Gas-House Gorillas playing dirty. He talks trash against the Gorillas, claiming that he could win the game single-handed with an endless barrage of home runs. He loses a bit of his bravado when he suddenly gets surrounded by the Gorillas. They force him to take up his own challenge and, as a result, Bugs now has to play all the positions on the opposing team, including speeding from the mound to behind the plate to catch his own pitches.