Ah, it’s baseball season – about which I know virtually nothing. However, since we have a pair of raccoons living in our yard, when I ran across this little short from 1931 about baseball-playing tanuki (狸 or たぬき) – or Japanese raccoon dogs, as they’re called – it appealed to me on a number of levels. This whole clip reminded me of nothing so much as author Alan Gratz’s trip to a “besuboro” game in Japan a few years ago.
Tanuki in Japanese culture are like foxes were once considered in American lore – as trickster gods or spirits. Considering the sheer amount of mess a raccoon can make, not to mention a pair — if tanuki are anything like them, I understand why.
And, if they played baseball, I’m sure they’d cheat like this, too.
fine, fine, I forgive you
lumbering bandit
your lawn-digging unearths bugs
at least you eat them