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The cranks hate 'em
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the team owner wants to shut 'em down
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the police want to lock 'em up
CAN THEY RALLY, or are they history?
Bush Leaguers is a comedy-adventure comic book series inspired by irreverent animated TV & comic series, like The Simpsons, Futurama, and Rick & Morty.
Set in the rough-and-tumble world of late nineteenth century New York City, Bush Leaguers follows the trials and tribulations of the Brooklyn Bridegrooms base-ball team.
The cranks hate them, the team owner wants to shut them down, and Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt wants to lock them up.
Most of the team are indifferent to their plight, save for one player: Skip Lapwhistle, the alter-ego of former seamstress who dons a fake mustache and a baseball cap, and traded life in the sweatshop, for life on the diamond.
With the team on the brink, it’s up to Skip to rally the team, stop the team owner’s plot, evade Roosevelt’s clutches, and bring back the spirit of of the game to the City.
The characters
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SKIP LApwhistle
THE FIGHTER - Skip escaped life as a seamstress in a sweatshop, and donned a fake mustache and a baseball cap to live out her dream on the baseball diamond, and she’ll do what it takes to hold the team together.
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Kingston Washburn
THE OPPORTUNIST - He’s never seen a game that he can’t fix, or a mark that he can’t swindle. His schemes often gets him and his teammates into trouble, but his wiliness occasionally helps extract the team from the odd predicament as well
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RUBE SHAW
THE ROOKIE - The team and its fans are the only family he has, and baseball is the only thing he’s good at. His naiveté makes him a ripe target for the less scrupulous of his associates who try to rope him into schemes, and harness his popularity with the public to their own devices.
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Maplethorpe
THE GLUTTON - He appreciates the finer things in life. But if the finer things aren’t available a frankfurter dropped underneath the bleachers will do just fine. He fills his hole to fill a hole in himself. His appetite often leads him astray, but he’s always there for his team when the going gets tough.
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Ol' "mulesides" porter
THE VETERAN - He lost his leg in the Civil War, but he didn’t lose his fighting spirit - until he met the incorrigible Brooklyn Bridegrooms. Now he passes the time polishing his musket, reminiscing about days gone by. Every once in a while his battle cry and soldier’s heart still help rally the team to victory.
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Baxter Van Der Klam
THE LEGACY - Given a position on the team by his father, the team’s owner, with the hope that it would put a stop to his vainglorious boondoggles, Baxter constantly seeks attention and praise. Jealous of Rube’s popularity, he often tries to sabotage him, or overshadow him with stunts that invariably go horribly awry.
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CORNELIUS VAN DER KLAM
THE MONEY MAN - After the disgraced baseball team was foisted on him during a drunken poker match, he decided to burn the stadium down and run off with the insurance money - until Skip & Rube revived the team, and Van Der Klam discovers how beneficial it can be to have a popular local sports team in his pocket.
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MULHOLLAND
THE RIGHT HAND MAN - Van Der Klam’s bodyguard, fixer, and all-round right hand man, Mulholland takes care of all of his elderly industrialist boss’ dirty work, whether it’s breaking a strike at one of Van Der Klam’s factories, or administering his daily ration of ether.
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THEODORe ROOSEVLET
THE LAW - As Police Commissioner, he staked his political career on a pledge to rid the city of corruption and vice, but he has one problem: a team of bush league base-ballers keeps stealing his headlines! He sees the team’s antics as an embarrassing, public symbol of his failure, and will stop at nothing to take them down.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Authors Bob McKeon and Sam Fletcher writer partnership originated in high school, where they wrote a humor column for their high school newspaper.
Years later, while reminiscing on favorite episodes of the Simpsons, the conversation turned to the famous “Homer at the Bat” episode, where Homer joins the power plant softball team, only to have Mister Burns take over as manager, and hire a bunch of professional ringers.
Their amusement about Burns’ fluorid, old-timey dialogue led to a discussion about old-school baseball, and an idea:
What if there were a show about a motley team old-timey baseball team, and a cantankerous, Burns-esque team owner.
Before they knew it, we were collaborating via email, phone, and FaceTime, honing in on the characters, world, and concept that eventually became Bush Leaguers.
Once they had a script, they connected with veteran comic illustrator, Joe Flood, whose vibrant, expressive, humorous work on Macon Blair’s depression-era hobo epic The Long Road to Liquor City made him the obvious fit to bring Bush Leaguers to life on the page.