Saturday, January 28, 2012

The World's Serious Condition

I have a headache and need to get to sleep, so I'm posting on Saturday nite so's you have this first thing on Sunday.

Here is another gorgeous Sunday strip that is also in the new Fantagraphics volume (if you haven't yet, go buy it!), but here we showcase the handsome tabloid format, courtesy of my friend and yours, DJ David B.

As Chris points out in the previous Pogo Sunday post, Deacon sometimes spoke without Gothic lettering in some early strips. When he first became a cast member he started out all Gothic, so I think somebody just forgot.

October 1, 1950

"One more word and you'll be sold to the Milwaukee Brewers!"

Now, he's not talking about the big league Milwaukee Brewers that was formed around '69 or'70, but the minor league baseball team that played in the American Association from 1902 through 1952 with a Triple-A class-level from 1946 to 1952. They hadn't been doing all that well at the time of this strip in 1950, but the following year they held their class and league titles. Among notable managers were Casey Stengel and Red Smith. Among notable players were Alvin Dark, Johnny Logan, Rudy York and Jim Thorpe.

Baseball was an ongoing ritual in Kelly's Okefenokee.

7 comments:

  1. I gotta say, the color adds a dimension that the B%W reprints can't capture.
    Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I burst out laughing right away--this is a classic---charlie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tom,

    Or perhaps Kelly was referring to the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers -- an inaugural American League team that moved to St. Louis the next year and became the Browns (and much later, the Orioles). Unlikely, but I wouldn't put it past Kelly to have been thinking along those lines...

    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  4. as is well known, NO umpire has ever been able to see; you actually have to prove generical blindness to qualify.
    Howland O. got himself a seeing-eye butterfly in one of the daily strips. Not that his umpiring got any better...
    Greetings
    Transatlantic Hun

    ReplyDelete
  5. Incredibly beautiful... like always. But those strips are always a surprise!
    Hope your headache was quickly gone. We wish you a good health through this Winter, dear Thom.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Yves, thank you for the wish of good health. My headaches come and go, a result I believe of the stress of constant deadlines. I'm just one of millions of people with the same stress and worse.

    More great stuff coming up!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The strip looks great! I'm glad I was able to contribute.

    Although I'm logged in as Dancin' Dave, I'm also known as DJ David B on the I.T.C.H. blog.

    ReplyDelete