Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for August 24, 2024

You’re gonna be worried the rest of your life, Dad.

Can’t hit very well, but what a pitcher…..

I see a professional Calvinball future for him.

Don’t worry dad, there will always be jobs for janitors.

If he were, not if he was.

Betcha if they were playing Calvinball, the kid would beat the pants off his old man!!

That’s why they invented T-ball.

Can’t play if the grades are bad, if they were good he’d never make the team.

Today’s strip is notable for two reasons. First of all, the strip is divided into seven panels rather than the usual four panels or one long panel. Secondly, the catcher turns out to be Dad rather than Hobbes. The punchline would not have worked with Hobbes but Watterson would have used one that suited Hobbes’s usual snide comments about Calvin. This time, he uses Dad rather than Hobbes. One of the rare occasions when Calvin and Dad are shown playing together.

No baseball scholarship in the future, eh?

I could never learn to throw a ball up and hit it either.

Granted, I didn’t try very hard to learn.

Calvin is a student of life. …yeah, I’d be worried!

Condition contrary to fact.

We’ve arrived from Pearls Before Swine. Nothing to see here.. moving on to Scary Gary…..

Appears Dad isn’t doing a lot of coaching.

Doubt if many or any 6 year olds can fungo a baseball. Wiffle ball with dad pitching underhand would be more age appropriate.

Forget it, Dad! Calvin’s only good at things he likes. And of course, it’s things you don’t like him doing.

Hey dad! Loosen up! Both of you can consider this bonding as ‘character building’. Winner, winner…chicken dinner!

He is not a jock, he is not a book worm, he is not a fighter, which only leaves being a great lover…. G.R.O.S.S.

If Calvin would only open his eyes when he swings, he’d have a much better chance at hitting the ball!

Maybe basketball is his sport

There are many things that Calvin isn’t. The trick is to find out what he is.

Looks like no one is gonna pay Calvin $5 million a year to hit a ball with a stick.

Actually Dad, Calvin’s quite intelligent and could turn out to do very well.

This ‘toon reminds me of my younger brother a bit. My dad used to worry about how he’d turn out and tried to ride him hard. They had many huge fights. My brother is now one of the best businessmen I’ve ever met and a very ethical person. He’s why I know that there are some very good people in corporate C-suites.

Calvin checking off the ‘boxes’…. Top Student, nope. Potential star athlete, nope again. Annoying Pain in The Butt, yep.

My dad took me to a kid’s baseball game when I was about 6. Dad talked to the coach and I ended up in right field with a glove. Thank goodness, nobody hit anything my way.

Get a tennis ball; he seems to hit them with no trouble.

Forty-five years hence: Professor Emeritus Calvin, Chairman of Paleontology department, Yale University, has been awarded the Homer-Simpson award (Presented by son Bartholomew) for his discoveries of new mega-gigantic, previously unknown, Jurassic predator. It will be named CALVINOSAURUS. His wife, Susie and their four grown children were in attendance, as were his parents, watching proudly as Prof. Calvin accepted the award. (Although Calvin’s father had a continuous expression of surprise and shock on his face!)

we can be friends—-or—- i can correct your grammar.

It’s trade school for him

I was just like Calvin. (still am).

Maybe he’s just a late bloomer. There is something he’s good at that he just hasn’t tried yet. Maybe music, dance, oratory… brigandage….

Steee……rike…..ONE!!!!!!!

Dad needs to go back to English class. It should be “if he were a better student”. You would only use “was” if you were referring to a specific time in the past.

HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

C’mon, dad, he’s six! Nobody’s a phenom at six!

Cheer up dad. He is much more than you can ever contemplate. He stars in the realm of Bill.

So? That’s strike two?