Ozark Ike
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ozark Ike was a newspaper comic strip about a dumb but likable rural mountain boy, Ozark Ike McBatt. The strip was created by Rufus A. ("Ray") Gotto while he was serving in the Navy during World War II in Washington, D.C., as an illustrator for Navy instruction manuals.
Strong-but-dumb Ike McBatt is from a hillbilly family living in the backwoods town of Wildwood Run. His girlfriend was Dinah Fatfield, whose family was in a generations-long feud with the McBatt clan. Ozark Ike is such an all-around athlete that he’s a baseball star during baseball season (playing for ”The Bugs”), a football star during football season and a basketball star during the basketball season! And between seasons, Ike’s a professional boxer!
Gotto sold Ozark Ike to promoter Stephen Slesinger, who also managed Red Ryder, King of the Royal Mounted and the merchandising of Winnie-the-Pooh. Slesinger, in turn, sold the cartoon to King Features Syndicate. It debuted November 12, 1945. Gotto left in 1954, but the strip continued until 1959 under King Features cartoonists Bill Lignante and George Olesen.
Who hit a foul ball to just miss the fifth home run in a single baseball game? "Ozark Ike" McBatt, the greatest baseball player of all times. This comic strip placed its hero somewhere between the real-life Shoeless Joe Jackson and comic-strip favorites, heavyweight champ Joe Palooka and Lil Abner.
"Ozark Ike" was the nickname of two major league baseball players, Ralph Kiner and Gus Zernial.
