Dingo Joue au Baseball

The first half of this is explaining, through some somewhat-amusing examples, the basics of baseball: hitting, pitching, the different kinds of pitches, etc.

The really funny part begins when they show the bottom of the ninth inning of the last game in the World Series. It's The Gray Sox versus the Blue Sox. One team is leading 3-0 and their pitcher is throwing a no-hitter. What happens after that is hilarious as the losing team creeps back into the game with a climactic finish. The scenario is completely exaggerated for a humorous effect and it works. I found myself laughing out loud at a few of the scenes.

This short starts off slowly and gets better and better as it goes on.

How to Play Baseball gets off to a slightly slow start. The narrative explanation was very interesting, especially for someone like me who has never played baseball in her life, but it wasn't as funny or as crisply paced as the rest of the cartoon. When it does get going, complete with a suitably ferentic pace, it is non-stop hilarity with the ending and the scene where the player gets hit on the head and walks around in a daze standing out. The sound effects also add much, especially the screeching tyres and wobbling guitar chord. The animation is clean, smooth and very colourful, and the whole different personalities with Goofy as various characters, as with How to Play Football, is a masterstroke.

Overall, a great cartoon and one of the finer How to Goofy cartoons. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I've seen this so many times, but have never commented on it. There is something about it that is quite charming. I like that all the players and the umpire are variations on Goofy. They do a nice job of showing how the game is played and then go to the seventh game of the World Series to demonstrate. Of course, everything is exaggerated and typical goofiness, but it works pretty well here. If you watch, you'll find my utter amusement in the title of this review.

COMING DURING THE first year of the involvement of the UNited States in World War II, this cartoon short was a natural for this period. While most of Hollywood's output during those war years either portrayed the life of our Fighting Forces or the people giving their support on the Home Front; this Goofy entry, titled HOW TO PLAY BASEBALL, did its part to give support and some degree of humorous relief.

THAT THE NATIONAL Pastime was an important element of the American makeup was obviously an indisputable fact. It was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who urge the Major Leagues to continue to play a full schedule during those war years of 1942-45. FDR heartily endorsed continued play; albeit under a somewhat diminished set of circumstances. This would be due to so many of the first rate major leaguers being in uniform of their country, instead of their teams.

OTHER THAN THE year of the great conflict, there is nothing different about either the game or of the surrounding humor as generated by the cartoon. As usual, we find Goofy at the heart of the sight gag laden one reel of animated mayhem. The story, the narration and the comic situations portrayed here could well be exactly the same. Perhaps we would have to concede that an update in uniforms and some of the equipment would be in order; but this is to be expected and is a minor sort of change to be implemented at best.

ALONG WITH SO many of those other entries into the Disney GOOFY Series, this would be 8 minutes well spent. So, what are you waiting for, Schultz? And while you're watching, why not show it to some of the younger generation; who may well discover a whole, "new" world of truly funny animation shorts. And they are truly "clean" and "wholesome" entertainment.

Jack Kinney was something of a miracle-worker for Disney, tirelessly concocting short after short involving the iconic Disney characters of Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Goofy into cute, elaborate little short films that work as cute instructional videos, zippy entertainment, or often, a combination of the two. Kinney's How to Play Baseball is one of the several shorts he created that involved the Goofy character partaking in some kind of sport, whether it be golf, football, swimming, or even self-defense. The short focuses on Goofy's involvement in trying to succeed at the nation's pastime baseball and features a rousing game between the Blue Sox and the Gray Sox. During the game, the film shows numerous elements of the game that result in a surprisingly nailbiting short film. The one thing Kinney consistently does well is animate and conduct the action scenes, which are flawlessly animated for their time and completely unpredictable in their zaniness. Not to mention with a leading character like Goofy, hilarity is almost imminent.

Directed by: Jack Kinney.