Law and Order vet Jesse L. Martin may have had one of the best guest starring spots of the entire series when he appeared as an alien-turned-baseball player in season six's The Unnatural, written and directed by series star David Duchovny. While Duchovny was phoning in his lines throughout a large chunk of seasons six and seven, The Unnatural was a return to form: his first scripted episode, he also directed the outing, and it became a fan favourite, and favourite among the cast and crew. The premise was based on the real life story of Joe Bauman, who played professional baseball and held the pro ball home run record, set while playing for the Roswell Rockets in 1954, until 2001, when Barry Bonds hit 73. Despite this feat, Bauman would never play in the MLB. The 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought about stories of Bauman, and Duchovny read them, and connected the team to the famous UFO crash in Roswell, pondering "what if Bauman was an alien?" The episode took off from there. Martin got the "Bauman" role, Josh Exley, and the story was expanded to include the racial divide in baseball during the mid-1900s (Jackie Robinson would break the racial barrier in baseball, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947).
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
