The cartoon was written by Tedd Pierce, who certainly borrowed one routine from an earlier Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Friz Freleng.
In this short, Yosemite Sam (who says “Ahoy!” like he did when he was a pirate, except he’s a land-dwelling Hessian in this one) pitches a cannon ball at Bugs.
Two ends of a Bugs “surprise” take.
Bugs rushes back into the fort to emerge with a baseball bat to swat the cannon ball. In Freleng’s cartoons, he always seems to change into appropriate clothing for the gag and does it here.
A typical Freleng take with little realisation lines around the head.
Sam pulls a baseball glove out of nowhere. “I got it! I got it! he yells, going back on the ball.
The gag is on the flag that is raised after the cannonball explodes.
It’s a variation of gag from Baseball Bugs (released 1946). Mike Maltese got the writing credit but I can’t help but think he and Pierce were a team at that point.
Carl Stalling borrows from “Freddy the Freshman” by Cliff Friend and Dave Oppenheim for the background music in this scene.
Back then, the gag would not have been seen in four years, and would have been relatively fresh... :)
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