Trama

Jerry fears that an inappropriate comment he made at a dinner party caused his relative's subsequent death.

Jerry attends a family anniversary dinner with Elaine as his date but he puts his foot in it when he says he can't stand people who had a pony as a kid. Well, the hostess Manya did have one growing up and leaves the table upset. Jerry feels embarrassed by it all but when he learns that Manya died in the night, he feels responsible. To make matters worse, her funeral is scheduled at the same time as his baseball team is playing its championship game. Meanwhile, Jerry and Kramer have a disagreement over the meaning of a bet.—garykmcd

Jerry's parents, Helen (Liz Sheridan) and Morty Seinfeld (Barney Martin), are staying at Jerry's apartment in New York City, making themselves at home. He bursts in, wearing baseball clothes, carrying a bat and glove, and proudly tells them that during his softball game, "I made an incredible play in the field! There was a tag-up at third base and I threw the guy out from left field on a fly! We'll be in the championship game Wednesday because of me. It was the single greatest moment in my life."

Morty shares the reflected glory by remembering his own greatest moment; he is sympathetic, but Helen reminds them that they are all going to the 50th anniversary dinner of Helen's second cousin Manya (Rozsika Halmos) and her husband Isaac (David Fresco). Though Jerry does not want to go-he has made plans, he doesn't know the people-his mother coerces him: "At least come and say hello, have a cup of coffee, then you'll leave." Jerry knows it won't be that simple, so he persuades Elaine to attend, too. To their unspoken dismay, she is seated at the kiddie table, lower than the grown-ups.

During the dinner, he makes the tactless comment to which the title refers: Helen, Jerry and Elaine discuss horses, and Elaine shifts the discussion to ponies who are kind of hybrid. The trio agree that ponies are a weird animal. Manya was overhearing the conversation and gets upset as she is an immigrant from Poland and had many ponies.

Jerry tries to apologize, even going as far as to compare ponies with compact cars, but Manya (Rozsika Halmos) gets even more angry and leaves the table. Just after she leaves, Jerry tries to reason with the others that he did not know she had a pony and wonders why immigrants with ponies would leave Europe to come to America without ponies ("Who leaves a country packed with ponies to come to a non-pony country?") After the dinner, when Jerry's parents are leaving, his father soothes: "Hey, I agree with him. Nobody likes a kid with a pony." But Jerry receives a phone call from Uncle Leo (Len Lesser), who informs him that Manya has died. Jerry is very upset about it, but he's also upset to learn that the funeral will be held on the same day of his softball championship.

At Monk's Cafe, Jerry discusses the situation with George and Elaine. They speculate whether his comment may have been a factor, though both are self-centered: Elaine wonders about her own death, and George urges Jerry to play in the softball game, because he thinks Jerry needs "to play left field", as Jerry's replacement fielder "stinks," and, George adds, "I just don't see what purpose is it going to serve your going? I mean, you think dead people care who's at their funeral? They don't even know they're having a funeral."

Feeling guilty, Jerry ends up going to the funeral, where he, again, apologizes for his remark. Isaac (David Fresco) informs him that Manya had forgotten Jerry made the pony remark: "Oh, no no no. She forgot all about that. She was much more upset about the potato salad." Elaine asks Isaac multiple times about what is going to happen with their apartment. Isaac eventually tells her that Jerry's cousin Jeffrey is going to live in it. When it starts to rain, Jerry realizes that the game will be postponed. The following day, after the game, Jerry, George and Elaine meet at Monk's Cafe, where they discuss the lousy way Jerry played softball. (Jerry recalls a certain play, about which he admits, "It was the single worst moment of my life.") Elaine wonders if Manya's spirit put a spell on him.

In a subplot, Jerry and Kramer bet whether or not Kramer will rebuild his apartment so that it has multiple flat wooden levels instead of needing furniture. Kramer changes his mind and decides not to build levels, but refuses to pay Jerry, arguing that since he did not attempt it, the bet was invalid.