April 1-2, 1954: Two on Baseball

April 1:

The second panel here is a particular favorite of mine.  Lucy is weighing her options.

This may be the first direct instance of direct violence in Peanuts.  There have been chases before, and chases of being hit by projectiles (like one where Lucy hits Charlie Brown with a snowball at very cose range) but I don't think anyone has actually hit another kid before now, with hand or weapon.  I'm sure one of you will correct me if I've remembered wrong.  (In fact, I'm looking forward to it.)

April 2:

Now that another character has directly remarked on Charlie Brown's lack of playing skill, it has become a bit more solidified as an attribute of the character himself.

May 21, 1953: On the mound: The origin of the pitcher's mound

This is the first strip in which there is an actual pitcher's mound, and not a flat spot of earth. Of course the later mound is a lot wider, but it's not actually much shorter.

One flaw with the premise of this strip: when the other team is up to pitch, wouldn't it help them just as much?

May 13, 1953: Baseball Blockhead

First use of the word "blockhead." Also, the first strip in which another character comments on Charlie Brown's lack of pitching skill.

April 8, 1953: On the mound: Charlie Brown's pitching isn't that great

These are the strips that initially establish Charlie Brown's lack of playing skill. Not really a lot to say about them other than that.

April 2, 1953: On the mound: I think they're scoring a little high

How does a team earn 89 runs in a game that's not even over yet?

One potential problem, avoided I think, with this strip is the use of the word "home" in the last panel, which is a baseball term. Schulz plants the idea of Schroeder's home life in the reader's mind in the third panel however, which allows CB's line in the last to be more cleanly read as referring to Schroeder's house instead of home plate, would would have confused the joke.

March 31, 1953: On the mound: Schroeder the catcher

This is the very first of a staple strip-type of Peanuts throughout its history, Charlie Brown the pitcher interacts with a member of his team who has come up to talk to him during a lull in the game. It even has Charlie Brown's usual expression of annoyance at having to put up with one of his teammates. It is missing the pitcher's mound, but that's fairly minor.

This is also, to my memory, the first time Schroeder has been catcher, which pretty much becomes his set role on the team.