Absurd ‘Simon Birch’ Baseball Scene Resurfaces, and Twitter Can’t Believe It

With people around the world spending even more time on social media while practicing social distancing, there are a variety of forgotten photos and videos resurfacing. One example is a scene from the 1998 film Simon Birch, which starred Jim Carrey, Oliver Platt, Ashley Judd, Ian Michael Smith, and Joseph Mazzello. Those that stumbled upon a brief clip featuring a baseball game couldn’t believe that this existed.

The moment that drew attention on Twitter featured the diminutive Birch during an at-bat opportunity. He connected with a pitch that was in the strike zone and launched it into the sky. The hit ultimately turned into a foul ball, but this fact became less important to his fellow players and those in attendance for the game. The ball struck Ashley Judd’s character right in the face, killing her while her son, Joe, watched in shock.

“I saw this movie when I was a kid but don’t really remember it and I kinda convinced myself that I must’ve just dreamt that it was a thing until you started tweeting about it,” one Twitter user wrote. Others talked about how they didn’t need to remember this movie during the COVID-19 outbreak. There was too much sadness in the world, and they didn’t want to cry while thinking about Birch dying.

Of course, there were some other fans that wanted to make some jokes about the scene. For example, one sports fan wrote that “simon birch should be in jail #LockHimUp” due to him killing Judd’s character. Although a few others referred to the titular character as a hero for his actions.

One individual brought up a very important point considering that someone died after getting hit in the face with a baseball. They wanted to know why no one thought of the woman’s safety during this foul ball and said that “not one person shouted ‘heads up’” at Judd’s character. Multiple people saw the ball’s trajectory and assumed that it would strike her in the face, but they didn’t provide a warning.

With this clip surfacing on social media, there were some people curious about whether or not Simon Birch is available on streaming platforms. The answer is yes, but only for those that rent it on Amazon, YouTube, the Google Play store or many other platforms.

(Photo Credit: Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)