Supplied — Marsha MillerIn honour of Josh Donaldson’s upcoming appearance on Vikings, The Gateway counts down five other memorable TV appearances by athletes.
5. Many famous mid-90’s baseball players in The Simpsons
The Simpsons has always been one of the best TV shows out there when it comes to cameos, but this episode was the first where the show really flexed its creative muscles with the concept.
The basic premise: Mr. Burns bets fellow power plant owner Aristotle Amadopoulos a million dollars that his team will win a softball game between the two plants, so he hires MLB superstars for various jobs at his plant. We don’t actually get to see any of these stars play however, as they all suffer hilarious, unrelated misfortunes that prevent them from playing. Don Mattingly never could shave those sideburns close enough. — Zach Borutski
4. Jim Abbott in Boy Meets World
Cory Matthews doesn’t think he can make it to the majors, so his dad does the logical thing: harass Yankees star Jim Abbot until he comes to the Matthews household to convince Cory not to give up on his dreams.
If anyone would be qualified to teach the youngest Matthews child about making it to the majors with long odds, it would be Abbot, considering he pitched 10 seasons in the majors, throwing a no-hitter in 1993, all with the notable handicap of having only one hand.
Abbott signs baseballs for Cory and his friends, and leaves him with a corny yet inspiring message that could only come from a 90’s sitcom. — Zach Borutski
3. Jim Brown in CHiPs
Ranked as the second best NFL player of all time by NFL.com, Jim Brown made the Pro Bowl in each year of his nine-season career. Winning multiple MVP awards, the 6’2”, 235lb running back is a veritable god of the gridiron.
ChiPs was perhaps his most outlandish roll, where he plays a thief who’s especially adept at rollerskating. With his rugged good looks and thick mustache, he was capable of playing everyone from soldier to cops to athletes. — Mitch Sorensen
2. Bill Buckner in Curb Your Enthusiasm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyKB0ft9N28
Appearing in all his self-referential glory in this episode, Buckner gamely allows the show to poke fun at his 1986 error that cost the Boston Red Sox the World Series.
Essentially, Buckner relives his infamous error on screen, allowing another baseball to slip through his grasp, only this time, he’s on the balcony of an apartment, and the ball was signed by Mookie Wilson, the man who hit that fateful grounder to Buckner in 1986. Buckner deals with this error a lot better than his first one, rightfully blaming David for his “horseshit throw.”. — Zach Borutski
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Diff’rent Strokes
First on the big screen in the Bruce Lee classic Game of Death, as well as the hilarious co-pilot in Airplane!, Abdul-Jabbar went on to have a successful TV career as well.
Appearing on Diff’rent Strokes, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and other small-screen classics, his 7’2” frame made him a perfect fit for physical humour with Gary Coleman on Strokes, especially in the season eight episode “A Tale of Two Teachers.” Adbul-Jabbar’s no-nonsense Mr. Wilkes forces Gary Coleman’s Arnold to teach his literature class for an entire day, with hilarious results. — Mitch Sorensen
