User Reviews

This was just silly. This episode was a break from the serious, I get it. It was just a goofy episode, and it kept my attention somewhat. But every time Paladin said "goodbaby", I did laugh out loud. The rest of the baseball shenanigans for me anyway, was just kind of mediocre slapshtick.

Yeesh. This episode is a nice piece of entertainment, but don't take any umpiring lessons from it. It is set sometime after 1876, so the hard baseball that was used and the cloth one (like those actually used during that era's recent war) which one team tried to use were probably both still around. Also credible is the idea of a fully professional barnstorming team, since the Cincinnati Red Stockings premiered such in 1869. But Paladin gets just about every controversial rule interpretation he has to make wrong. Batters letting themselves get hit with a pitch (not only does he get this wrong by today's rule, I don't think that rule even existed in the 1870s!) ... what to do when runners and fielders collide (or are just about assassinated) under rules that DO seem to have been in place by then ... even the spirit of the game itself. Yeesh.

...it'd still be the most popular pro sport today! Take-out tackles of baserunners, stiff-arms to the necks of men in motion, WWE kicks to position players, even dodging gunshots while sliding into home plate - this "game" had it all. Paladin knew the rules of the game as played in the late 1800s (don't expect the pansy-a** rules of today) and called them as he saw them. He even came up with a Solomonic solution to the travelling team's dirty secret and the show ends with no fatalities. How's that accomplished? - you'll just have to watch it yourself and see.

(P. S. - I do NOT recommend eating or drinking while viewing. You WILL laugh!)