A Leela of Her Own

"A Leela of Her Own" is the forty-eighth episode of Futurama, the sixteenth of the third production season and the tenth of the fourth broadcast season. It aired on 7 April, 2002. It guest stars Hank Aaron and Bob Uecker as themselves in jars. Turanga Leela finds herself being the first female ever to play major league Blernsball, but not because it is any good at it, but because she is a great crowd pleaser.

Act I: "We got guano. Very fresh"
After the wall of a nearby strip club fell down, Fry took to looking out the window. But eventually noticed a pizza parlor opening next door. After Fry reminisces about his old job, the crew decide to go and welcome their new Cygnoid neighbours. The pizzas turn out to be disgusting, so Fry decides to teach them, concluding with a Blernsball lesson. Planet Express's staff and family play a game against the Cygnoid's pizzeria. Leela proves to be a terrible pitcher, hitting the batters in the head each time. Her bad playing draws a crowd and she is recruited for the Mets.

Act II: "Now pitching for the Mets, Turanga Leela"
Leela's pitching "skills" prove popular with Mets fans. Leela garners many fans and some advertising appearances, thanks to her agent, Bender.

Act III: "I'm not doing this for the wad"
During a signing at Family Bros. Pizza, Jackie Anderson, an NNYU blernsballer tells Leela off for ruining the chances for competent women players. After a quick review of Leela's statistics Hermes informs her that she is likely to become the worst player ever, and Leela vows not to let that happen.

Act IV: "You better get a batting helmet"
The crew visit the current worst player, Hank Aaron XXIV, at the Blernsball Hall of Fame. Hank manages to teach Leela not to hit batters in the head.

Act V: "Ancient Cygnoid secret"
The Cygnoids open a franchise, then sell to Fishy Joe's. Leela convinces the coach to let her play after having trained with a Hank Aaron. As Leela takes the mound, Jackie comes in to bat on the third strike Jackie hits the ball hard enough to break the string and send the ball into the "win the game" hole, scoring a grand slam blern. Leela is now officially the worst player ever, and retires, having inspired women to prove they aren't all terrible.

Trivia

 * This episode comes closest to explaining Blernsball, the writers intend to make the sport confusing and so they threw in a few oddities at the end of the episode.
 * Hank Aaron was reluctant to be in this episode, but agreed when he found out Bob Uecker had agreed.
 * Jackie Anderson's name and uniform number (24) is an obvious reference to Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League Baseball.

Goofs

 * Hank Aaron XXIV is shown to have played for the Atlanta Braves but, as we learned in "The Deep South", Atlanta has been submerged in the Atlantic Ocean for quite some time. Unless his lifespan is somehow incredibly longer than everyone else's, he would have to be either a mermaid or a head in a jar.
 * This was something the production staff were aware of and the Atlanta Braves logo is updated from the 20th century design, which used a tomahawk, to feature a trident.
 * In the episode "Anthology of Interest I" Shea Stadium is shown to be a complete bowl, but in this episode, it is shown to be more like the actual Shea Stadium, and is open in the outfield.

Characters

 * Abner Doubledeal
 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Debut: Blek and his wife
 * Debut: Bob Uecker's Head
 * Cubert Farnsworth
 * Dwight Conrad
 * Fishy Joe
 * Fry
 * Debut: Hank Aaron's Head
 * Debut: Hank Aaron XXIV
 * Hermes
 * Debut: Jackie Anderson
 * LaBarbara Conrad
 * Leela
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Randy
 * Scruffy
 * Zoidberg

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Patric M. Verrone
 * Director
 * Swinton O. Scott III
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * David Herman
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Lauren Tom
 * Dawnn Lewis
 * Tom Kenny
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Patric M. Verrone
 * Swinton O. Scott III
 * John DiMaggio
 * Special Guests
 * Hank Aaron
 * Bob Uecker