Three Strikes, You're Out

Jessica's nephew has a golden opportunity to pitch in Major League baseball - until murder steps up to bat. Average MSW, but still enjoyable. The setting is baseball and the politics are just as heady.

The woman with the largest extended family on television Jessica Fletcher is visiting spring training for the Tucson Comets where Todd Bryant yet another nephew is a pitcher recently traded to the team and he's trying to make good.

Publicist Terri Garber comes on to a big story and unfortunately she's killed for it in her room which is right across the hall from where Angela Lansbury is staying.

Besides the players there are a lot of suspects which include Alpha male manager Vince Edwards, Sports agent Paul Sorvino, and snake oil salesman type General Manager Robert Mandan. Garber was his personal squeeze.

A lot of suspects for detective Reni Santoni of the Tucson PD to wade through. Angela Lansbury has to keep him on track as he seems more worried about the Comet pennant chances than solving the case.

A simple glass fragment is the key and it's Jessica Fletcher who puts it together of course.

At least you know it wasn't her nephew, or was Bryant her late husband's family?

During the course of "Murder, She Wrote", there must have been 45028 epsides (give or take 45000) where Jessica Fletcher visits a niece or nephew....and "Three Strikes, You're Out" is yet another one. It seems that her nephew is a baseball player who was just traded to another team. Jessica comes to watch him in a few games and during this time, a woman is killed...and the killer made it look like it was a robbery turned bad. Of course, Jessica looks into it and there's more to it than some robbery!

This is a decent episode....but not an outstanding one. The mystery is okay but the nephew angle...well,...it certainly was overused. Still, if you can look past this cliche, it's not a bad show.

Anne Lockhart and Roxanne Reese portray the roles of dedicated sporting wives, who accompany their baseball-playing husbands to spring training camp, where murder is soon to follow.

Scottsdale, Arizona, marks the setting for this episode featuring professional baseball team hopefuls, including Kel Murray (Beau Billingslea), Pete Briggs (Shea Farrell), Johnny Eaton (Todd Bryant), Mike Warlop (Rick Dean), Avery Burns (Jake Jacobs) and Charlie Holcomb/Freddy Masters (Tim Dunigan), who has had to change his identity after serving prison time to qualify for the team.

Doc Evans (Bernie Casey) serves to nurse team members from pain and injuries, while Managers Irving Randolph (Robert Mandan) and Harry Dial (Vince Edwards) keep an eye on operations from field to locker room.

Television Sports Reporter Loretta Lee (Terri Garber) covers events before and behind the scenes for her station's pre-game program, while threatening to expose secrets harbored by various players and managers. (Note: this Loretta Lee is not to be confused with another Loretta Lee, in "MSW" #11.5).

Kel's wife, Nancy Murray (Roxanne Reese), and Pete's wife, Roz Briggs (Anne Lockhart), spend game time as spectators, along with sportswriter Al Sidell (Paul Sorvino), who helps to explain the game to others around the seating area.

Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) makes her second journey into Arizona this season, to attend a baseball game for the purpose of catching up with nephew Johnny Eaton, and, of course, to prove Johnny and his friend Charlie/Freddy innocent of murder when they stumble across a body in a room upon the floor of their hotel.

With another nephew in trouble, Jessica eagerly assists Lieutenant Caceras (Reni Santoni), who investigates the murder scene, in which the victim has been lunged against a chest of drawers, with fragments of broken glass lying about the carpeting.

Secrets begin to emerge, turning teammate against teammate, and officials against players, for when murder stalks the baseball diamond, it's "Three Strikes, You're Out!"

The cast is rounded out by Harry Robinson as Umpire, David Elliott as Young Officer, Ed Hooks as Bellman, and Harry Woolf as Fan.

This episode represents the first of two "MSW" appearances for Reni Santoni, the second of two for Harry Woolf, the first of three for David Elliott, and the third of four "MSW" performances each for Anne Lockhart and Shea Farrell.

In addition to his acting credits, Todd Bryant has also performed in the capacity of Stunt artist for nearly three decades. Vince Edwards, acting in film and on television since 1947, has unfortunately since passed.

Jessica is on hand to witness her Johnny Eaton land a big baseball post, naturally her presence spells doom.

It's not a bad episode by any stretch of the imagination, but it just doesn't have anything original about it, what this series has done so very well, is give us variety, stories have been original and varied, we were even given a variety of genres. We've been here before, it's an easily forgotten story.

There's a scene where Jessica is watching the baseball, and looks totally disinterested, in afraid I feel the same way, nothing here grabs you. No amount of muscled jocks or pretty reporters will mask the dull script.

Lansbury is great as always, and hard to fault, sadly none of the case are given any challenging material to complement her.

Disappointing, 5/10.