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:

I believe I have mentioned in the past that the 1950s were a strange era for comic books. After WWII, superheroes lost their appeal with the public, to the point where only Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman continued to be regularly published. Instead, the focus of comics shifted to other genres like horror and true crime, often with graphic (for the time) covers depicting violence and sexual innuendo. This (along with concerns about some of the superhero comics) led to a best-selling book, congressional hearings, and ultimately the establishment of the Comics Code Authority, a self-regulatory apparatus meant to keep comic books safe for kids by severely curtailing and sometimes outright eliminating violence, sex, drugs, questioning of authority, and the like.

It was against this backdrop that Strange Tales #36 came out. The series was, as the name suggests, a comic book about… strange tales. Initially one of the (to 1940s/50s sensibility) gruesome horror comics, after the Comics Code it moved to stories of science fiction, magic, and heavily-neutered monster tales. Marvel (again, called Atlas at the time) had several magazines like this alongside romance comics that were popular at the time- it was still years before they’d get back into superheroes again.

Anyway, here’s the cover of Strange Tales #36:

As you can see, there’s no indication that a story about baseball is in it. That’s because Strange Tales was an anthology- lots of stories were in each issue, most of them (including “The Discovery”) quite short.

Oh, one last thing before we start, required legal note:

All characters and logos in the comic are property of their respective owners. The excerpts from this comic used in this post are being used under fair use doctrine and are meant merely to support and enhance the opinions and facts stated in said post.

Now, let’s go to “The Discovery”, shall we? This story is like so many before and after it: the amazing out-of-nowhere pitching find that changes everything. An old trope that has popped up in (deep breath) Rookie of the Year, The Scout, Major League (sort-of), Roogie’s Bump (which Rookie of the Year was based off of), The Bad News Bears, the villain in Mr. Go, the story of Sidd Finch, and kid books about baseball since time immemorial.

It isn’t known who wrote the story, but a Marvel wiki says it was drawn by Bob Powell, who Wikipedia says is best known for his work on “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle” and “Mr. Mystic”.

Want to read it yourself? You can find it on the Marvel Unlimited service, which has… more Marvel comics than you could ever possibly read.

Our story (which is only four pages so don’t expect many pictures) begins on a farm in the middle of nowhere, where Mike Sloane, a scout for the “Green Sox”, comes across Ernie Watkins throwing rocks with the speed of Aroldis Chapman and the accuracy of Greg Maddux:

As you’d imagine, Sloane is soon giving Watkins a baseball to see if he can throw a baseball as well as he can a rock. Guess what? He can. In fact, he outright destroys the side of a barn with it. Sloane immediately offers him a $50,000 contract, which is about $471,597.01 in today’s money.

While that isn’t much money by today’s baseball standards even after inflation (it isn’t even MLB minimum) that is actually a ton for 1955. Whitey Ford was only paid $26K in 1955. Robin Roberts was paid $40K in 1955. Bob Lemon was paid $45K. To be sure, there were some guys getting paid more than $50,000, but they were mostly position players- Ted Williams, for example, was paid at least $67K.

But here’s the thing, for all that money and for all of Watkins’ supernatural throwing abilities (to the point where the catcher can barely stay upright), the Green Sox don’t use him. At all. Their manager, Handley, doesn’t use him down the stretch. In fact, he doesn’t use him until Game 7 of the World Series! And not even as a starter, he waits until the 9th inning when the Green Sox are down 3-2.

My god, how stupid is Handley?!?! Okay, I can maybe see not using him much down the stretch if the Green Sox are running away with the league. I can even understand not using him in Game 1 of the World Series because maybe he wanted to use a veteran.

BUT WAITING UNTIL GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES, AND THEN WAITING UNTIL THE NINTH INNING, WHEN YOU ARE DOWN IN THE GAME!?!?!?

This makes Buck Showalter’s usage of Britton in the Wild Card Game against Toronto look like genius in comparison. At least Britton had been used in games to get that point!

Oh, and remember, this is pre-DH, so the pitcher has to hit. And, what do you know, Watkins gets a hit… but doesn’t run. He sticks at home when he should be getting a game-winning inside-the-park home run, or at least a game-tying hit. Why?

HE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING IN BASEBALL BESIDES PITCHING.

Now, obviously there is the fact that it’s absurd that Watkins didn’t catch on as to what he’s supposed to do at the plate and on the basepaths from just watching the games as he rode the bench. But, no, I’m going to blame Handley here, because maybe if he’d used Watkins at all during the season he’d know about this and done something!

#FIREHANDLEY.

Next time on Bizarre Baseball Culture: Something involving baseball and culture that is bizarre.

Previously on Bizarre Baseball Culture:

Prologue: “Rockets on the Mound” (short story)

1: Captain Marvel teaches baseball to Martians

2: Fantom of the Fair and exploding baseballs

3: Doll Man fights the Baseball Bandits

4: Tony Stark- Baseball Fan

5: The Other Guys

6: The Little Wise Guys and the Absent-Minded Natural

7. Pokémon: “The Double Trouble Header”

8. Dash Dartwell’s PED use for justice

9. The Shield and the Ballpark Murders

10. 2007′s Triple-A Baseball Heroes

11. 2008′s Triple-A Baseball Heroes

12. The Batman and Cal Ripken join forces

13. Sub-Zero and Blasted Bulbs

14. “Pinky at the Bat”

15. How To Play Baseball 

16. Action Comics #50

17. Superman Adventures #13

18. Billy the Marlin (guest-starring Spider-Man)

19. Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop

20. Shortstop Squad

21. Cosmic Slam

22. Thanksgiving Doubleheader (Dick Blaze and Franklin Richards)

23. Mariners Mojo

24. Ozzie Smith and Tony the Tiger

25. 25th Installment!

26. Stuart Taylor travels through time

27. Captain America in “Death Loads the Bases”

28. Captain America in “High Heat”

29. Spider-Man, Uncle Ben, and the Mets

30. Green Arrow and Elongated Man

31. Hideki Matsui’s Godzilla Cameo

32. Mr. Go

33. Captain Marvel, Tawky Tawny, and the Tigers

34. Cal Ripken Jr. Bio-Comic

35. Simpsons Comics #120 

36. Dick Cole

37. The 2001 NY Yankees (and Cal Ripken) in “Championship Challenge”

38. “It’s Tokyo, Charlie Brown!”

39. Stan Musial Bio-Comic

40. “Challenge of the Headless Baseball Team!” 

41. “To Beat The Devil!” 

42. “The Day Baseball Died” Continuucast

43. Bullseye: Perfect Game 

44. Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #34

45. Yankee Stadium in Marvel Comics

46. Popeye the Sailor Man in “Twisker Pitcher”

47. Cleveland Indians Strikeforce vs. The Scatman

48. Fallout 4

49. Ultraman 80 vs. Glovusk, the giant evil baseball glove

50. The Great Super-Star Game!

51. Kool-Aid Man

52. “Martian Sam” Continuucast

53. Human Target

54. Power Rangers “A Star Is Born”, and the Japanese episode it is based on

55. Power Rangers Zeo “Rangers in the Outfield”

56. Power Rangers Turbo “The Curve Ball”

57. “The Discovery” from Strange Tales #36 (you are here)