I liked this episode as well as the others. But I was also amused by the writer, who knew his literary and movie history. The afflicted pitcher is named 'Hank Wiggen'. He has a very well-known literary namesake. 'Henry Wiggen' was the pitcher-narrator of three excellent baseball novels by Mark Harris. The most well-known of them is 'Bang the Drum Slowly', which was made into a television drama, and then a movie in 1974, starring Michael Moriarity as the pitcher and Robert De Niro (in his debut movie) as an afflicted catcher.
The Wiggen in 'House' is hardly the cynical, insightful observer of the novels, but using the same name is a nice touch.
The Wiggen in 'House' is hardly the cynical, insightful observer of the novels, but using the same name is a nice touch.