The Simpsons: 10 Hidden Details You Didn’t Know About The Pin Pals

Bowling plays a big part in Homer’s life on The Simpsons, so much so that it appears in several episodes over the years. Not as much as beer or donuts, but he still loves to play. The episode most people think of when it comes to Homer and bowling is “Team Homer,” because it featured the debut of the Pin Pals, the greatest bowling team in the history of the world. That’s in part due to the fact that most people can’t name another bowling team that they aren’t a part of. Other teams from the same episode don’t count.

10 Based On Real Life Bowling

Mike Scully was the writer behind the episode. He apparently came up with the idea for the Pin Pals story because he had been bowling a lot at the time. One can only imagine how much bowling it took to come up with that idea. Director Mark Kirkland was concerned about the episode since they had already done a bowling episode a few seasons earlier. One of the ways “Team Homer” sets itself apart is through the school uniform plot. That was also based on Scully’s life, as his kid’s school was thinking about implementing uniforms at the time.

9 Loved By Most

“Team Homer” has become a fan favorite over the years, as much for the bowling story as the secondary plot featuring new uniforms at Springfield Elementary. Critics have been mostly favorable in their reviews of the episode, some of them even putting it in their top ten.

But the authors of I Can’t Believe It’s a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide put “Team Homer” on their least favorite list. Their main issue seemed to be with the bowling story as they preferred the school uniform plot.

8 Pin Pals: Part Deux

The Simpsons resurrected the Pin Pals in a season 29 episode titled “Singin’ in the Lane.” Homer, Barney, Lenny and Carl decide to resurrect the team with Moe as the coach to make him feel included in their social lives. Apparently, former members Otto, Apu and Mr. Burns did not make the cut for the reunion. Everything that made the original Pin Pals episode great was lost in this unnecessary reimagining of a classic. Callbacks can be fun, but basing an entire episode on the concept just didn’t work.

7 Otto Gets Left Out Twice

While the lineup of the team changed in “Singin’ in the Lane,” the one thing that remained the same was Otto. Once again, he wasn’t on it. Otto was part of the original team but was ejected to make room for Mr. Burns in “Team Homer.”

But when the Pin Pals re-formed, Otto was still not a member. He doesn’t even appear in the episode. It’s too bad since this was Homer’s opportunity to make it up to his kids’ bus driver. The upside is Otto probably doesn’t remember being on a bowling team in the first place.

6 A Rare Toy

One of the best toy lines of all time was Playmates’ World of Springfield. The series featured dozens of carded figures and location playsets. The figures could connect to the playsets and talk to each other, delivering iconic lines from classic episodes. During the line’s run, there were exclusive figures that were only available through special offers in Toyfare magazine. The last one offered in this fashion was Pin Pal Moe. If you wanted a complete set of the bowling team, this is how you had to do it. Pin Pal Moe remains one of the most valuable figures in the line.

5 Dedicated To Lunchlady Doris

Doris Grau is a name that only hardcore fans of The Simpsons would recognize. She was the script supervisor on the series for the first few seasons. Additionally, she was the voice of Springfield Elementary’s beloved Lunchlady Doris.

Grau passed away on December 30th, 1995, just over a week before “Team Homer” originally aired. As it was the first new episode of 1996, it was dedicated to her memory. “Team Homer” was also one of the last episodes to feature her voicing.

4 Where’s Maggie?

There are five core members of the Simpsons family, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. But Maggie never appears in the entire “Team Homer” episode, a rarity throughout the series. Usually, each core member of the family gets even a few seconds of screen time even if none of the major plots involve them. Somehow, “Team Homer” makes it through the entire episode without showing her once. The episode even has scenes in the Simpsons’ home but she isn’t in them. Given that this is Maggie, it kind of makes you wonder where Maggie is and who she’s shooting.

3 Swapping Names

As the episode winds down, Homer complains to Marge that Burns is going to cost them the championship. The scene quickly cuts to a trophy case Homer has built with an Academy Award in it. Don Ameche’s name has been crossed out on the nameplate. In the original broadcast, the name on the trophy was Dr. Haing S. Ngor, who won his Oscar for The Killing Fields.

It changed because Haing was murdered mere weeks after the episode aired and producers were worried having his name on Homer’s stolen trophy implied he killed Haing for it. As such, the name was changed to Don Ameche for subsequent airings.

2 Magical Bowling Shirt

At the end of “Team Homer,” Apu, Moe and Otto cheered Homer on as he conducted a one-man raid on Mr. Burns’ mansion to retrieve their championship trophy from the duplicitous old man. Naturally, Homer got caught by the hounds, who savagely attacked him and destroyed his Pin Pals shirt. But one season later, it appeared in the episode “Homer’s Phobia.” John, voiced by the incomparable John Waters, was wearing it. He says he found it at Goodwill, where it was presumably dumped by Marge. The power of the Pin Pals shirt cannot be denied.

1 Bumblebee Man’s Name

One of the best running gags in “Team Homer” are the other teams the Pin Pals face in their league. As an example, The Homewreckers is made up of all the people who have almost ruined Marge and Homer’s marriage up to that point. It includes Jacques, Lurleen Lumpkin, Mindy Simmons and Princess Kashmir. It kind of makes you wonder how they all met and decided to form a bowling team. Bumblebee Man rolls with the Channel Six team which includes Kent Brockman, Arnie Pie and Krusty. His team shirt says Pedro on it, possibly the only time his real name is referenced.