All 180 "Seinfeld" episodes will soon be available on Hulu, which is great news for those of us who love binge-watching old TV shows.
And few shows have ever used baseball in plot lines as well as "Seinfeld," which makes this doubly great news for fans of the national pastime. With that in mind, let’s look at the top 15 baseball moments in the show’s illustrious history.
MORE: The best baseball moments on 'Cheers'
1. The Second Spitter
Episode: “The Boyfriend” (Season 3, Episode 18)
The plot: In Part 2 of this storyline, Kramer and Newman tell Elaine the story of why they hate Keith Hernandez, the spitting incident after a Mets game. Jerry gives his interpretation and introduces the concept of the Second Spitter. The whole thing is told in a style that’s mimicking the courtroom scene in the movie JFK. Back, and to the left, indeed.
Best line: “Unfortunately, the incontrovertible laws of physics contradict the whole premise of your account.” – Jerry
2. Buhner
Episode: “The Caddy” (Season 7, Episode 12)
The plot: George Steinbrenner finds George’s damaged car (which was Jerry’s fault), with blood showing, parked in the Yankee Stadium lot and immediately assumes he’s dead. George, of course, is just skipping work, but Steinbrenner goes to his parents’ house to deliver the bad news. Frank Costanza can’t help himself, though.
Best line: “What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?” – Frank Costanza
3. Two home runs?
Episode: “The Wink” (Season 7, Episode 4)
The plot: Kramer promises a sick boy that Paul O’Neill will hit two home runs for him the next time the Yankees play, as a trade to get back a birthday card signed by the Yankees that winds up with the kid. Of course, Kramer doesn’t tell O’Neill about this until after the promise is made.
Best line: “It’s hard to hit home runs, and where’d you get two?” – Paul O’Neill
4. George, the hitting instructor
Episode: “The Abstinence” (Season 8, Episode 9)
The plot: George’s girlfriend has mono, so they can’t have sex for six weeks. With that preoccupation gone, his mind is free to focus on more intelligent pursuits. He becomes a genius, and this extends into his work with the Yankees, as he tries to teach Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams how to hit home runs. For example: “Hitting is not about muscle. It’s simple physics. Calculate the velocity ‘V’ in relation to the trajectory ‘T’ in which ‘G’ gravity, of course, remains a constant. It’s not complicated.” They’re unimpressed.
Best line: “Are you the guy who put us in that Ramada in Milwaukee?” – Bernie Williams
5. I'm Keith Hernandez
Episode: “The Boyfriend” (Season 3, Episode 17)
The plot: In Part 1 of the episode, Jerry meets Mets star Keith Hernandez and yada yada yada, Hernandez breaks plans with Jerry to ask out Elaine. They go on a date, which goes well, but in the car at the end of the night, he has to mentally psych himself up to muster up the courage to kiss Elaine.
Best line: “Go ahead, kiss her. I'm a baseball player, dammit.” – Keith Hernandez
6. Bodysuit man
Episode: “The Millennium” (Season 8, Episode 20)
The plot: The Mets want to hire George away from the Yankees to head up their scouting department, but they can’t offer the job to someone still under contract. So George has to get fired, and he wants to leave a mark doing so. After repeated failures at failing — including streaking in a nude bodysuit and wiping strawberry juice all over a Babe Ruth jersey he’s wearing — he is usurped by his boss, Mr. Wilhelm, who gets fired and takes the Mets job.
Best line: “So you want to go out with a final blaze of incompetence.” – Jerry
7. Elaine's hat
Episode: “The Letter” (Season 3, Episode 21)
The plot: George, Elaine and Kramer are sitting in the owner’s box at Yankee Stadium. Because they’re in Seinbrenner’s seats, Elaine’s asked to take off her Orioles hat, and she, of course, refuses. It becomes a kerfuffle.
Best line: “I am at a baseball game. This is America.” – Elaine
8. Opposite day
Episode: “The Opposite” (Season 5, Episode 21)
The plot: When George realizes that every instinct he’s ever had is wrong, he starts doing the exact opposite (“Nothing’s ever worked out for me with tuna on toast”). This tactic lands him a girlfriend and a job interview with the Yankees. He doesn’t shy away from this new religion when he meets owner George Steinbrenner.
Best line: “In the past 20 years, you have caused myself and the city of New York a good deal of distress as we have watched you take our beloved Yankees and reduce them to a laughingstock, all for the glorification of your massive ego.” – George, to Steinbrenner
9. New uniforms
Episode: “The Chaperone” (Season 6, Episode 1)
The plot: George convinces Yankees manager Buck Showalter that the team should switch to cotton uniforms, which is a smashing success initially. But when the uniforms shrink, it’s a disaster.
Best line: “Oh my God, Mattingly just split his pants.” – Yankees announcer
10. The bird
Episode: “The Pledge Drive” (Season 6, Episode 3)
The plot: Jerry hosts a PBS pledge drive, and George promises to bring a Yankees player, Danny Tartabull, to the show. But a driver gives George the finger on the way (or so he thinks), and George chases him all the way out of the city, with Tartabull in the car. There, he finds out the guy didn’t really flip him off because his hand is bandaged with the middle finger extended up.
Best line: “Wow, I’d like to shake his hand, but I can’t.” – driver
11. Lift, clean and place
Episode: “The Big Salad” (Season 6, Episode 2)
The plot: Kramer gets into a golf-course argument with ex-baseball player Steve Gennison (not a real guy) and does the whole manager-umpire in-your-face screaming battle when he recreates the incident for Jerry and Elaine.
Best line: “Hey, a rule is a rule. And let’s face it, without rules, there’s chaos.” – Kramer
12. Scooter
Episode: “The Pothole” (Season 8, Episode 16)
The plot: Steinbrenner gives Yankee employees Phil Rizzuto keychains that say “Holy cow!” when you squeeze his head, in honor of the team legend/broadcaster being elected to the Hall of Fame. George loses his keys, and when he figures out he dropped them in a pothole that’s since been filled, he uses a jackhammer to try and retrieve them. He hits a water line, sending the keys and a ton of water up in the air. The Rizzuto keychain does its “Holy cow!” thing as it rockets skyward.
Best line: “You lost Phil Rizzuto’s head?” – Jerry
13. Calzone problems
Episode: “The Calzone” (Season 7, Episode 20)
The plot: Steinbrenner becomes hooked on calzones when he tries George’s lunch during a Yankees meeting. But George gets banned from the calzone place, which means he has to ask Kramer to help. That’s never a good idea.
Best line: “Big Stein wants an eggplant calzone! He must have one! Everybody out. Hurry up.” – Steinbrenner
14. You bastards
Episode: “The Hot Tub” (Season 7, Episode 5)
The plot: Reps from the Astros are in town to talk about “this new interleague play” and George is supposed to show them a good time. The Texas guys love to swear and drink, so George adopts those tendencies when he’s talking with them. Hilarity ensues.
Best line: “You tell that son of a bitch no Yankee is ever coming to Houston, not as long as you bastards are running things.” – George
15. The real Steinbrenner
Episode: “The Invitation” (Season 7, Episode 24)
The plot: George chooses the cheapest invitations for his wedding to Susan, who winds up dying from toxins in the cheap glue. This you know. But did you know the real-life George Steinbrenner filmed a couple scenes for this episode — he’s supposed to be Elaine’s date to the wedding — that were eventually cut for time reasons?
Best line: “Singles tables are for losers.” – Steinbrenner