First Base (AKA "Slugger" in North America
First Base was introduced to the UK market in 1988, as one of
the Adventure Boy Ponies. He had originally been sold in North
America as one of the Big Brother Ponies from 1987. He had a
baseball theme, which was probably difficult for Hasbro UK to
navigate, given that baseball was not a thing in the UK in the
1980s, and still isn't much of a thing here today, despite cable
television and global broadcasts. While he might have been the
perfect 'big brother' cliche for an American audience,
therefore, you can imagine Hasbro UK's publicity department
scratching their heads about what to do with this character. In
the end, they renamed him "First Base" instead of "Slugger".
First Base's Name
UK Backcard, 1988
The slang meaning of 'first base' was more of an American thing
not really known in the UK back then - whilst a 'slugger' (a
fourth hitter/main hitter in a baseball team) was not a
transferable term. The sport 'rounders' was still prominent in
UK schools, however, with a similar style of bat, and four bases
to clear to score a run/rounder. (Baseball is supposedly a cross
between rounders and cricket. His symbol is a bat, ball and
catcher's mitt, so maybe he was a catcher as well as a fourth
hitter. Who knows ;)
He featured on the front of his card.
First Base Mint on Card
UK, 1988
Image from Babydoll
Like all the Big Brother releases, First Base was sold with a
hat and bandana (called a scarf, or a neck scarf in the UK) as
well as a comb. The bandanas were the same style between ponies,
but in different colours (each brother had a unique colour). The
hats were specially designed to fit that pony's theme, and so
were only sold with that specific character. First Base had a
baseball hat (mine is pictured wearing it backwards so you can
see his face, LOL, it tends to flop forward). The hat has a ball
motif.
His hair is intended to be curly, but mine has lost his curl.
First Base's character
First Base did have comic appearances, sometimes involving
baseball, and one later comic entry described him as good at
catching. He also appeared in an amusing but largely pointless
comic story in which he got his neckscarf (neckerchief in the
comic) dirty, and decided that the best way to resolve it would be
to turn one baseball into many using his nose-wiggle magic. Aside
the wonderful pictures of Tug inspecting First Base's dirty
laundry and throwing the ball for him without actually moving a
hoof - the fact this issue is resolved by Tug the sailor pony
washing First Base's neckscarf in the sea (!) and then flying it
from the mast of his tugboat in order for it to dry before the big
game. I don't even know where to go with that except "lol". ;)
Tug inspects First Base's laundry issue
My Little Pony Comic, 1988
"First Base loves playing Pony Baseball with all
the other Adventure Boy Ponies.
As he practices his shots, you have to jump out of the
way of his bat as he hits the ball far into the distance!"
It seems that Hasbro UK got around the lack of baseball in the UK
by inventing a new sport called Pony Baseball. Aside the not great
grammar in this story (lol), there isn't a lot of clue about it
beyond him hitting the ball for distance. It's a shame it doesn't
link better with his name. Never mind.
His American card is more specific, details him playing baseball
with the other ponies from his set, and scoring a home run.
"Yup"
