The Kid Who Could - Page 4

AAAAH OZZIE GOT ZOMBIE EYEBALL - THIS TURNED INTO A HORROR COMIC RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

Oh wait, there's just the tiniest hint of an iris up at the top. Very subtle work by the inker there. Let's carry on with the story shall we?
 
All righty, page four and the practice has ended. Looks like Bernard Gilkey was invited, Good for you, Gilk! The rest of the team heads for home while Ozzie takes a quick drink at the water fountain. Remember, this is before Gatorade had sponsored every single professional athlete in existence and someone like Ozzie could still drink liquids without artificial coloring, electrolytes and good ol' high fructose corn syrup to replenish his precious bodily fluids.  This was a fateful decision as it resulted in him being ambushed by a carnivorous cereal spokesman.

Ah, but Ozzie isn't about to be devoured as part of this balanced breakfast, he and Tony go way back. Tony concocts a cockamamie scheme to get the kids to let Peter play ball with them. By playing a pick up game with Ozzie Smith who is known more for his glove than his bat, the kids will now associate Peter's weak feeble attempts at the plate with Ozzie and think "well, he can't hit worth a crap, but he can probably field" and let him play. Or something like that. Ozzie is cool and takes this slight in stride, acknowledging that teams thought he was pretty useless early on in his career. BUT THEN HE SHOWED THEM. HE SHOWED THEM AAAAALLL. TRADE ME FOR GARRY TEMPLETON WILL YOU? GRRRRAAAAAAR. (backflips) Tony does this all very conspiratorially too, notice in panel four how all the kids are thirty yards away gawking at Ozzie while Peter just drools in shock that he's meeting a real live ballplayer.

DUUUUUUUUUUR

YOU IS OZZIE HURF DURF

Of course I might be reading this scene incorrectly. Peter might just be terrified that he's about to get a bad touch from some weirdo in a fursuit. Or sacrificed in some sort of wizard ritual to keep the magic in Ozzie's glove. "He's the tiniest and with that fashion sense, he's bound to be a virgin. The Baseball Gods will be pleased with this sacrifice" Minutes later the creeping terror has passed and Peter is about to get his chance to at bat.