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Spring Training

By Jeremy Meltingtallow

The 2014 Major League Baseball Season opened in Sydney, Australia on March 22 and 23 with a split doubleheader between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The Dodgers won both games.  The season begins stateside on Sunday, March 30 with an evening contest between the Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

Now that the weather is warming up, kids are oiling their mitts, loosening up their arms and practicing their swings.  Little League games are already being played in the more temperate climes and contests will soon be underway in every corner of the country.

Chip has, for many years, been the most dedicated baseball player in the Flagston family. He is also easily distracted from his athletic pursuits by the opposite sex, particularly in the spring.  In this Sunday page from 2002, younger brother Ditto can’t understand how this can happen.

Hi and Lois Sunday page, April 28, 2002. Hi and Lois Sunday page, April 28, 2002.

The set-up at the end of this episode is one of my favorite types of visual punch lines – the threat of impending doom or imminent disaster.  Sometimes it’s funnier to imply a consequence than to show it.  Ditto is at the awkward age during which he vehemently expresses his intense dislike for females, but then suddenly discovers a curious attraction, particularly to a girl who is interested in sports.  This aspect of his personality is a fertile ground for gag material.

We wish all of our readers, who are baseball fans, an enjoyable opening of the new season and for all the lovers out there, a romantic spring.

– Brian Walker