Mad #296 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Baseball Issue - July 1990

Jack Davis was always the artist of choice for sports and other articles involving action.  He drew the cover of Mad #2 and Harvey Kurtzman's article ("Hex!") that featured a baseball theme.  General Douglas MacArthur, Alice the Goon and Dick Tracy could be found in crowd scenes.  Davis also drew the first Mad magazine baseball parody in Mad #25.  Thirty-five years later, Davis was selected to draw the cover scene of the play at the plate with Umpire Alfred E. Neuman failing to make a "safe" or "out" call.  If you look closely, you can see Ex-President Richard Nixon in the crowd with the bird-hat lady, a dog and an ape.  In addition to the front cover, the back cover has eight parody celebrity baseball cards drawn by Richard Williams.  The best one is Dan Quayle of the Washington Schmucks who "needs coaching."  Inside are eleven more parody cards ("Making Baseball Card Collections Complete") written by Desmond Devlin and drawn by John Pound who is best known for drawing the Garbage Pail Kids.

This issue also featured the debut of Croatian artist Tomas (Tom) Bunk in "2 Hour School of Dentistry."  Bunk's drawing style relies on the cluttered panel and numerous amounts of unattached body parts.  Although Bunk drawings have appeared in over 130 issues of Mad, they have never been my favorites. [JAM 12/22/2011]

Homeless person has a mailbox (page 5).

Departments:
May Divorce Be with You - Gore of the Roses
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Hair
From Topps to Bottom - Making Baseball Card Collections Complete
Kiddie Cum Laude - All You Really Need to Know You Learned in Nursery School
When Beast Meets Jest - Duck Edwing on the Loose at the Zoo
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy (2)
Taught in the Act - Important Things We'd Never Learn Without TV
All Jaffee - More Quick Recoveries for Embarrassing Situations
Boys Will Be bores - The Mad New Kids on the Block True or False Personality Quiz
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Lessoning the Load - Leisure Time Courses Adults Really Need
Hart Burn - Mad's Video Reviews
Tooth in Advertising - The 2-Hour School of Dentistry
Seek Sickness - Find the ...
Strangers in the Write - Greeting Cards for People We Don't Even Know
Big Ham on Campus - Roach

Fold-In - Babysitter