April 8, 1954: I can't resist a sight gag

Read this strip at gocomics.com.

I probably should stop linking to every sight gag strip.  This one's pretty funny for that last panel, and contains a chagrimace, and it has to do with baseball, and has an non-musical appearance by Schroeder, but other than those four things isn't that interesting.

Well, the floppy baseball in the first panel is funny too.  Other than those five things, it isn't that interesting.

Sunday, April 19, 1953: Shermy Pitches

In this early baseball strip Charlie Brown's team is losing even though he's catching this game.

Look at that first panel for a moment. There are six kids pictured. Counting from the left, it's hard to tell who the second and third ones are. The second kind of looks like Charlie Brown, and the third like Shermy, but they're already in the shot viewed up close. This would make these two kids the first "extra" human characters in all of Peanuts. (Animals have had a couple of extras so far, an anonymous dog and a bird.) Some of the other panels have unknown extras too, as well as Lucy and Schroeder a couple of times.

April 12, 1952: Ball One

Poor Charlie Brown would never really get much better than this. This is the first strip that puts both Charlie Brown and Schroeder into their respective baseball positions as pitcher and catcher.

Of special note: Charlie Brown's pitcher's mound is a lot more subtle in this strip than it would be later on.