Sam Malone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
-
- For the Ohio politician, see Sam Malone.
| Cheers character | |
|
|
|
| Sam Malone "Mayday Malone" |
|
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Role in Cheers | Owner/Bartender |
| Portrayed by | Ted Danson |
Sam "Mayday" Malone was a character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Ted Danson. The central character of the series, Sam was a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team who owned Cheers and tended bar there. He was a recovering alcoholic and notorious lothario. Although his sports celebrity status in the wider world was short-lived, Sam retained that standing within the confines of Cheers, where he was beloved, and in some cases idolized, by the regular patrons of the bar.
At the beginning of the series, Sam's past career in baseball was spoken of as though he had been a very good pitcher who might have become a truly great pitcher had he not been derailed by his alcoholism. Even a particularly obnoxious New York Yankees fan, despite being strongly biased — because of the acrimonious Yankees-Red Sox rivalry — toward demeaning the quality of Red Sox players, nonetheless noted that Sam "didn't stink" and had "a darned good hard slider."
By the end of the series, however, the writers had turned to Sam's baseball career as a source of comedy, and as such, most later references to Sam's performance with the Red Sox became decidedly derogatory. During this latter period, Carla Tortelli and Norm Peterson touted Sam's ability to remain calm under pressure, recalling how, during his baseball career, when there were two runners on base in the ninth inning, and the game was on the line, the Red Sox would turn to "Sam Malone and his 'Slider of Death'" to come in and protect the team's lead. But when asked what would happen next, Norm acknowledged that "usually [Sam] would give up a three-run homer. It was actually Sam's teammates who called it the 'Slider of Death'."
Presumably, the varying references to the quality of Sam's pitching could be attributed to his initial success, which was then lost at the end of his career due to the effects of alcohol and possible injuries. Sam's background was inspired by the true life baseball career of former Cleveland Indians pitcher Sam McDowell, known during his career as "Sudden Sam". McDowell posted strong seasons for the Indians in the late 1960s and in 1970, but much like his fictional counterpart, was an alcoholic during his playing days.
It was mentioned several times on the series that Sam's jersey number while with the Red Sox was 16. In the bar, there hung a frequently-seen photograph of a Red Sox pitcher — supposedly Sam — wearing the number 16. The actual player depicted in that photo was Jim Lonborg, who wore the number 16 during his pitching career with the Red Sox.
Considered physically attractive by women (and not especially modest about that point), Sam was once married, but his marriage did not last long. Continuing to be a prodigious womanizer, as he was during his baseball career, Sam allowed the bar's male patrons — most particularly Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin — to live vicariously through his numerous sexual conquests. During the series, Sam was romantically involved with Diane Chambers and later with Rebecca Howe, the basis of the plots of a number of episodes.
To counteract the suggestion that a show set in a bar might encourage alcohol abuse, the writers depicted Sam as a recovering alcoholic. The backstory was that Sam had bought a bar during his bout with alcoholism. Then, after he achieved sobriety, he decided to continue to own and operate the bar for "sentimental reasons". At one point during the series, Sam briefly relapsed and began drinking again, spurred by the emotional trauma of the collapse of his romance with Diane Chambers. With the help of Diane and Dr. Frasier Crane, Sam regained his sobriety. Aside from this fleeting episode, Sam never drank alcohol over the course of the series, and usually carried around a bottle of water or ginger ale or sips from a mug of coffee.
A second failed relationship with Diane prompted Sam to react poorly again, this time by selling the bar in an attempt to escape his painful memories of her. Sam came to regret that decision and returned to the bar to work there as an employee. He later succeeded in his quest to reclaim ownership of the bar.
Sam also had a brother, Derek, about whom Sam harbored insecurity because he felt that Derek was superior to him in every way. Derek, who is referenced frequently in the two-part first season finale "Show Down" and made an "appearance" in the episode's first part, was an unseen character, with the viewer only hearing his voice (provided by Charles Ball) but never seeing him.
|
|||||||||||||||||
