Old Time Family Baseball

Besides showing the American family how to love, laugh, and put up with each other in the same house, Bill Cosby sought to educate the viewer. With the show in its seventh season, Cosby brought Frank Robinson and former Negro League player Joe Black on board to play fictional Negro League players. 

Because the episode features many stories and legends about the Negro Leagues, ones I had never heard before, I also wanted to check if any of them were truthful. If there are any Negro League scholars with additional insight, let me know.  

The episode, split into two parts on YouTube, is embedded below with annotations following. Last, the time codes correspond to the DVD and not the YouTube videos. Enjoy!

1:14: The episode opens with the family practicing their bowling form in the living room. As everyone knows, bowling is the perfect sport with which to build a baseball themed episode. 

2:08: Frank Robinson and Joe Black appear, playing Frank “Pay Day” Potter and Joe “Rubber Arm’ Simms. It’s also when we see Elvin’s horrible faux ponytail. 

2:47: After mentioning some of the greats like Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Minnie Minoso, Frank Potter then says there were plenty of great players who weren’t remembered like Classy Judy Johnson. According to Wikipedia, Johnson was known for his glove, leadership, and talent scouting once his career was over. If not for Johnson identifying Dick Allen’s talents, the greatest magazine cover may never have come to be: 

3:06: Frank Potter says that Joe Simms gave up plenty of home runs to the players listed above and Simms fires back, with monotonic aplomb, “They’re friends of mine. I gave each of them one home run, start them off on a great career. But I can brag about striking out Frank Robinson.” Zing! Take that, fourth wall. 

3:30: Heeeere’s Bill! 

6:10: Finally, we’re back to the bowling story. After pointing out that Cliff was the best dressed, worst bowler out there, Joe and Frank discuss the third baseman for the Kansas City Monarchs, “Clean Manholmes.” As far as I can tell, there is no player named Clean Manholmes. 

8:02: After Cliff starts blaming the his bowling ball for his performance, Frank and Joe are reminded of Alibi Al Benson who once said “he got blinded at bat because the sun had reflected off the bald head of a man sitting in the center field bleachers.” A cursory Google search also reveals nothing for Alibi Al. I want this story to be true more than anything. 

9:55: The group returns to the Huxtable house for Chinese food and baseball stories. Cliff’s Dad, Russell, starts by telling a story about the Philadelphia Stars’ manager wearing a cole miner’s helmet while walking out to home plate to beg the umpire to call the game on account of darkness. Result: Fiction. 

10:48: Cliff gives a physical demonstration of Satchel Paige’s hesitation pitch. And you thought you’d go through life without seeing Bill Cosby impersonate Satchel Paige. Silly you. 

12:08: Joe and Frank are at it again, talking about stolen base legend Pep Miller. Sadly, this again looks to be a work of fiction. They do refer to a catcher wearing gear which read “Thou Shalt Not Steal,” a reference to real-life player Ted Radcliffe. 

13:03: Russell tells everyone the story about the time Roy Campanella played in fog so intense that each outfielder was given a baseball and told to yell “I got it” if a ball was hit towards them. Of course, each one yells I got it and three balls come flying back to the infield. The internet again fails to confirm this story. 

15:06: A Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones reference! I assume this was a contract stipulation between Bill Cosby and JELL-O. 

17:22: Joe and Frank are about to tell a story about the time they played in the Caribbean, but they must return to their wives before telling it. What happened in the Caribbean that was so dark, so terrifying, as to necessitate a cliffhanger of this magnitude? 

18:01: This is where the Third Act takes a bizarre twist. Now it’s time for a cricket conversation. This is the normal, human reaction to cricket stories: 

20:31: Baseball is compared to rounders, a “game for children.” That’s not something you say in the Huxtable house. 

21:47: They decide to play cricket in the house. Yes, you have now seen Bill Cosby play cricket. 

22:39:

22:51: Claire catches the boys in the house, effectively ending the game and sending everyone home. Boys will be boys. 

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While this episode is enjoyable in its quintessential 80s-ness and Cosbyitis, it’s a shame that the writers went to fiction so often when there are plenty of stories and stretched truths of actual Negro Leaguers waiting to be be shared. There is one other possibility, however: these are real stories that have been lost to time, ones that were only passed down by those with first-hand knowledge or were only print in books that are long out of print, free from the eyes of any blogger. Unless someone reading this happened to write for the Cosby Show or is a Negro League scholar, we may never know.