Satchel, the Ball-Playing Alligator

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Animal Crackers 31, July 1950

 

Hi Guys!

I can tell you with a fair amount of confidence that there aren't a lot of anthro alligators out there.  And there's even fewer of 'em that play baseball for a living.  But that's just what I've got for you, thanks to Fox Feature Syndicate's Animal Crackers comics!  

Animal Crackers is a pretty obscure title and like most Fox funny-animal productions, it's not super memorable either for the art or for the stories.  I'm afraid that's the case with today's fare, except that there's something kinda weird about this particular ball-playing alligator.

See, his name is "Satchel," which is strange-enough by itself.  But as it turns out, "Satchel" is a reference to Satchel Paige, an African-American baseball pitcher who became one of the first sports stars to cross race barriers and make a name for himself in the big leagues!  In 1948, he left the Negro Leagues and joined the Cleveland Indians, who went on to win the World Series that year.  Satchel was a conversation-starter and of course Fox got right on board with that.  It didn't matter if the art or the story sucked, Satchel was topical and that was good enough!

 Check it out and you'll see what I mean!

 


 

 


 

 










Well, there's no nice way to say it -- this comic is just plain bad!  It's like they took a single-panel cartoon gag and somehow stretched it to six pages!  The art is pretty consistent, but you get the impression that the guy who drew this was told that he had to get everything done in ten minutes!  Oh well, this is what we expect --and love-- from Fox Feature Syndicate.  You can bet that I'm going to be on the lookout for more awful Fox comics as we go forward!

OK guys, that's all I have for now; see you next time!

 

******* 

Heck of a thing to find in a kid's comic.  Thanks Fox!

*******





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