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Look: Homer Simpson gets Hall of Fame plaque for 'induction'

@BaseballHall / Twitter

Cooperstown may not have been among his many "lifelong dreams" - and let's be honest, in his mind, this is probably still outranked by his 1977 appearance on "The Gong Show" - but Saturday nonetheless marked a very important day in the life of Homer Jay Simpson.

As part of the Baseball Hall of Fame's weekend festivities honoring "Homer at the Bat," the classic third-season episode of "The Simpsons," the former Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball star was officially "inducted" into the museum for his stellar career on the diamond. Saturday morning, the Hall gave fans a first look at Simpson's official plaque, which has already embiggened Cooperstown with its cromulent description of the 38-year-old, 239-pound slugger.

The plaque celebrates the "girthy" Simpson's memorable pinch-hit appearance in the ninth inning of the 1992 softball championship against Shelbyville, when he drove in the championship-winning run with a pinch-hit walk-off hit-by-pitch that rendered him unconscious and gave Springfield a 44-43 victory.

While Simpson's playing career was all too brief, Hall of Fame executives are well aware of his contributions to the game. As such, his plaque also details both his brief tenure as "bush-league" mascot "Dancin' Homer" for the minor-league Springfield Isotopes (and briefly with the big club in Capital City), and his tireless efforts that later saved the Isotopes from relocating to Albuquerque.

Despite his prominent place in Isotopes history, however, Simpson chose to enter the Hall as a member of the power plant softball team. He's the first Hall of Famer to wear Smilin' Joe Fission on his plaque.

The highlight of the weekend arrived when Simpson reunited with three of his long-lost softball teammates in Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, and Steve Sax - all of whom overcame tremendous odds to attend the ceremony.

Darryl Strawberry, however, was not present. It's unknown if he's still bitter about the treatment he received from the Springfield crowd that afternoon, despite his nine-homer performance.

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