It's not like this Peanuts special, first shown in 1965, isn't widely available on DVD, or again later this month on television. But this is the first airing of it this holiday season, which is a cherished tradition for a lot of people. Curling up with your family in front of a roaring log fire to watch Josh Bidwell punt out of his own end zone just isn't the same.

Actually we know what happens in the Peanuts special: Round-headed boy picks out spindly tree, ineptly directs Christmas play, is mocked by own dog; not unlike the way things were run with the Lions under Millen. The outcome of Monday night's game is less certain, as the two 9-3 teams battle for sole possession of first place in the NFC South (be sure to look for Julius Pepper's heartwarming reading of the Gospel of Luke, verses 8 through 14).

Fun fact: A Charlie Brown Christmas aired annually on CBS from 1965 through 2000; more consecutive showings than any special or movie in TV history. In 2001 the rights were acquired by ABC, where it has been since, showing twice a year.

Graphic: Associated Press

Ch. 28 Picks Up Buccaneers Game Monday, Pre-Empting Charlie Brown Christmas And Boston Legal Finale [Tampa Bay Online]

Perhaps no baseball team was as ineffectual as Charlie Brown's (if you don't count the current San Diego Padres). We're reminded of this in an entire hall dedicated solely to the Schulz strips that feature our nation's pastime, which he drew from the strip's inception in October 1950 through February 2000. Yet I also learned a couple of pretty amazing things. First, Charlie Brown's team actually won a couple of games, as evidenced in a strip where his team is "playing for the championship." And second, a series of his baseball-themed strips in the late 1950s pretty much changed everything in comics.

That series, which ran from June 9-19, 1958, involved Charlie Brown camping beneath a high fly ball, as his teammates gathered around to watch. Catch it, and he's the hero. Drop it, and he's the goat. The ball stayed suspended in air, out of panel, for seven days (in real time; only seconds in Peanuts time), the tension mounting with each strip as his teammates conjectured the outcome. Violet: "Isn't this exciting?" Linus: "What if he drops it?" Lucy: "If he drops it, let's all kick him!"

Such a thing had been unheard of in newspaper comics to that point, where the standard formula was as much action as possible, followed by a daily gag. People standing around doing nothing, forcing you to think in metaphor, rarely happened, and never for two weeks straight.

"Schulz changed the tone; he invented the modern comic," said Stephan Pastis, co-curator of the exhibit and creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine. "Charlie Brown's problems on the mound are emotional conflicts that everyone deals with. It's actually more Biblical than baseball. Charlie Brown is like Job; experiencing these enormous tragedies, yet he continues to strive.

"You see him out there on the mound during Biblical-sized floods, after everyone else has gone home, and he still wants to play," Pastis said. "At one point even his mitt floats away, yet he still won't quit. Schulz was the first cartoonist to work with those themes. Asking me if my work has been influenced by Schulz is like asking are you influenced by oxygen."

Baseball was the perfect sounding board for Schulz, placing his characters in a microcosm of hope, persistence, humiliation and disappointment.

"Peanuts was all about wanting things you don't get," said Nat Gertler, a comic book writer and publisher whose web site, Aaugh!, specializes in collectible Peanuts books. "Lucy wanted Schroeder. Schroeder wanted to be left alone. Neither got what they wanted."

Schulz himself was a dedicated baseball fan; although born in Minnesota, he lived most of his life in Northern California, and loved the Giants. He was also a hockey nut; and financed a large skating rink in Santa Rosa next door to what is now the museum. And out back of the museum is a bit of land which contains Charlie Brown Field, a Little League-sized diamond where kids are allowed to play year-round. It's probably the only baseball field in the country where, in the spirit of its creator, teams strive to lose.

"My own kids have played on baseball and softball teams like that, though, thankfully, never teams quite as hopeless as Charlie Brown's," said veteran comic book writer Tony Isabella. "They have played on very good teams, too. I loved watching all their games, win or lose. Because baseball is as much about the game itself as it is about the final score. Even in his misery, Charlie Brown gets that."

Peanuts images Copyright © UFS

Charles M. Schulz Museum

Look, there's probably no tougher job in baseball than that of closer. But that being said, it's hard to imagine someone failing at it in more spectacular fashion than did the Giants' Armando Benitez last week. The Giants had a one-run lead in the ninth against the Mets on May 29 when Benitez was brought in to wrap things up. He proceeded to give up a walk, two balks (one of which brought in the tying run) and a home run. Mets win, 5-4. If the Giants fail to make the playoffs this season (they're currently under .500), that could be the defining moment.

The question is, how did cartoonist Charles Schulz predict all of this balk business, several years before the fact? Thanks to the McCovey Chronicles for pointing this out and digging up the comic strips. The late Schulz, by the way, lived in Santa Rosa, Calif., and was a Giants fan. And Benitez is now with the Marlins.

Balk, Balk Way Back [SFGate]
RU-49 [McCovey Chronicles]
Sent Packing [SFGate]