Peanuts Begins by Charles Schulz for August 31, 2016

Sherman as pitcher and Charlie Brown as catcher, huh? How long until CB becomes pitcher (so we can see the batted balls knock his clothes off)?

Sixty to nothing? Hey, at least that means the pitcher can get the ball over home plate… unless those were all on walks.

Wow, they were that bad even this early in the strip’s history!

Different positions, same scores

I remember in one strip, they say they did win a game (but not the one that ignited a scandal).

Charlie Brown, do you think so? Everyone got on base over six times. Continue to think positive and see what happens.

Can you invoke a Mercy Rule before your first at bat?

They only won when Linus was pitching when Charlie Brown was sick in bed.

And so it begins…

So

Charlie Brown wasn’t the only bad pitcher on the team…

Well, with Schroeder not old enough to catch yet, somebody’s got to take up the slack.

Were they ever in an organized league? I remember that Charlie Brown got Mr. Hennessey, who owned the local hardware (I think) store, to sponsor them in a league and buy them uniforms. The storyline is the basis for “Charlie Brown’s All-Stars,” Schulz’ second TV special (1966) and one never aired today for some reason. If anything, CB’s willingness to give it all up rather than tell the girls and Snoopy they couldn’t play would really strike a chord. It must’ve struck one back then…LLB allowed girls to play a few years after this first aired.

So, it wasn’t just Charlie Brown that was a poor pitcher, but the entire neighborhood?

There actually was a story arc in which Charlie Brown’s team was in a championship game. A definite departure from the “always losing” narratives.

I seem to remember an arc where Charlie Brown’s team won two games in a row – both by forfeit.

Proves that’s it’s not CB’s pitching that loses the games…..if Shermy can’t do any better job the team has no business critising Charlie Brown. The whole team is just as bad, maybe Snoopy and Linus are the exceptions as they display some actual talent on the field. There was one game they actually won but then disqualified because snoopy and Re-run made a bet on the game. Re-run bet CB’s team would win, and Snoopy bet they wouldn’t. They had to forfeit the game to the other team.