Bostonist loves it when a cartoon show will animate a real life Bostonian and weave them into their plot line. Tom Brady has already been featured on “The Simpsons” and most recently, “The Family Guy." Besides that awful episode of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”, the Red Sox haven’t been featured on many non-sports related television shows. Well, this morning WGBH changed all that by having a few Sox players from past and present turn into somewhat freaky cartoon versions of themselves on the kids’ show “Arthur.” Johnny Damon, Mike Timlin, and Edgar Renteria all leant their voices and likeness to three animated creatures who play baseball for a team called the Grebes. Damon is a bear named Playmon, Timlin is a deer named Winlin, and Renteria is also a bear named Bateria. (Can we all appreciate the double entendre that WGBH has created, please?) Of course, the Grebes help Arthur and his team win their first championship since 1918. And the strangest part of it all? The animal versions of the Sox players truly resemble them; Winlin's scruffy goatee makes him even more believable as Timlin.
For those who haven’t watched the animated show while babysitting a tot, Arthur is an anteater who hangs out with a variety crew of friends. The television show has been around since 1996, but Bostonist first recalls reading Arthur books at our local Minuteman Library at age 6. Massachusetts author Marc Brown started writing the books in 1976 and has since published over 30 Arthur-relatated books.
Spoiler Alert: Playmon hits a home run and wins the game for Arthur and his friends. Is it just coincidence that the show happens to air the day the Yankees come to town?
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Um, you do realize that two of those three players are no longer on the Sox, right?
Yes, I am well aware that Damon and Renteria no longer play for the Sox...that's why I thought it to be a bit of a coincidence that Damon's character makes the winning hit in the show, which airs the day Damon's new team comes to town. Perhaps the "Arthur" writers are Yankees fans?
I'll reword something to make it a bit more clear that I do know the 2006 Sox lineup.
The episode probably got caught up in production when someone mailed the script to their same-sex couple aunts and Arthur was forced to return to sender...oh, shit, this isn't clever at all. Just look - Playmon still has the caveman beard.