Jerry Seinfeld birthday tribute: 10 best sports moments from the show – USA TODAY
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld turns 63 on Saturday, and while he bashed birthdays on his show in an attempt to be dark and disturbed – “nevitably, irrevocably: Happy birthday? No such thing” – we wanted to mark the occasion with the top 10 sports moments from Seinfeld. Giddyup.
10. “This is America!”
Sitting in the owner’s box at Yankee Stadium with George and Kramer, Elaine is asked to remove her Orioles hat. She refuses, a scuffle with George ensues and Kramer is beaned by a foul ball. Oddly enough, in 2014, Kate Upton found herself in a similar situation while wearing a Tigers hat in the Bronx.
9. “Get your shrimp here”
Playing with Jerry’s softball team, George is berated by Bette Midler as he gets ready to bat. He runs over Midler at the plate later in the game, injuring the Broadway star. Jerry was dating Midler’s understudy, so conspiracy theories emerge about George/Jerry putting a bounty on Midler.
8. “Gotta support the team”
Elaine’s boyfriend Puddy is a huge Devils fan, and his team is locked in a playoff series with the Rangers. Puddy reveals himself to Elaine as a “face-painter” since he’s “gotta support the team,” which ultimately ends with him terrifying a priest. Jerry and Kramer try to procure tickets for a game the entire episode, but eventually, the only seats available are with Puddy and his D-E-V-I-L-S body-painting friends.
7. Ball Man
Kramer aces his tryout to be a ballboy at the U.S. Open, but his overzealous style results in him knocking out Monica Seles during a match.
6. “I own the inside of that plate”
Kramer attends a Yankees fantasy camp and reveals that he sparked a benches-clearing brawl by plunking Joe Pepitone – who was crowding the plate. Kramer winds up blindly punching Mickey Mantle.
5. “Cotton breathes”
Buck Showalter has always been an innovative manager, perhaps no more so than when he lets George pitch him on a new kind of baseball uniform.
4. “That’s not a home run!”
After George gets grapefruit in his eye, his winking leads Kramer to sell George Steinbrenner’s birthday card — which had been signed by the entire organization. The framed card ends up with a sick kid in the hospital, who agrees to give the memorabilia back to Kramer if Paul O’Neill hits two home runs in the next game. O’Neill hits one, but his presumed second homer later is ruled a triple with an error.
3. “… Billy Martin”
In perhaps Larry David’s best cameo as Steinbrenner, he lists Yankees managers whom he parted ways with in the 1980s and 1990s. Finally, he reveals his intent to ditch Buck Showalter.
2. “I’m Keith Hernandez”
There’s so much happening with Keith Hernandez in “The Boyfriend” two-parter, but the former All-Star explaining his recollection of Roger McDowell spitting on Newman and Kramer is absolutely perfect. Fun fact: Darryl Strawberry was originally supposed to be the “Second Spitter.”
1. “Ken Phelps”
Frank Costanza at his finest. While Steinbrenner is delivering the erroneous news that Frank’s son, George, has died, Mr. Costanza can’t help but berate the Yankees owner for the ill-fated 1988 trade that sent Jay Buhner to the Mariners.