Manic Baseball Monday Bonus--Cheating At Baseball Will Get You Killed!

Oh, yeah, it's more baseball!!

Comic book baseball rule #1: when you have a game between imaginary teams, you must name one the "(Some color besides red or white) Sox" and the other after a cat. For example one, see today's earlier post; for the next one, observe:

Sub-Zero, BTW, is a super-hero who is really an astronaut from Venus with freezing powers. Because Golden Age.

Anyway, as often is the case with Golden Age baseball stories...

Damn those gambling mobs!!

And sure enough:

(Hopefully, this panel will shut up everyone who complained about Bruce Springsteen's use of the term "speed ball" in Glory Days. Probably not, though).

Ah, open-carry laws in action...

OK, shooting the pitcher while he's on the mound is one way to fix a game. Maybe a little flashy, a little too "reveal that the fix is on" and "murdery" for my tastes, but it is a method.

Except you probably shouldn't do it when a super-hero is in the crowd:

Wait a minute--Sub-Zero just straight up killed that guy!! But if he "had it comin'," well, no problem then.

But it turns out that the gamblers had a second plan in motion--they've paid off the Lions' star shortstop, Vernon, to throw the game...hmm, maybe they should have tried that plan first, before going all Lee Harvey Oswald from the stands.

Anyway:

Well, that's enough to alert Sub-Zero. So when Vernon's next opportunity to muff things comes up...

But what about when Vernon is at bat? How can Sub-Zero stop him form just striking out in a key situation?

Hey, Golden Age freezing powers can do anything!!

And when the rest of the the Lions are told about Vernon's machinations:

DAMN!!! You just straight up killed the guy (maybe).

The moral: Don't try to fix baseball games--you might die!!

From Blue Bolt #7 (1940)