15 Hungry, Hungry Homer

The Simpson family visits Blockoland, a theme park similar to Legoland which is completely made of blocks. Lisa is ripped off when her Eiffel Tower kit has a missing Blocko piece. In response, Homer "sticks up for the little guy", and he gets Lisa the piece she needs. He also stands up for the little guy by helping Bart get a girlfriend for an upcoming school dance and helps Marge get two free hair streaks (along with helping the beauty salon increase its profit margin to accommodate Marge's streaks). When he tries to help Lenny by getting him a refund on his tickets for the Springfield Isotopes baseball team (previously introduced in the season 2 episode "Dancin' Homer"), Homer encounters the Isotopes' owner Howard K. Duff VIII. The owner, who turns out to be a good deal more intimidating that Homer expected, refuses to give Homer a refund, but in his haste to leave Homer accidentally enters a room and discovers evidence that the Isotopes are moving to Albuquerque. Duff insists that they are not moving and he has Duffman drug Homer to cover up the truth.

Homer is shocked and attempts to alert the media to the plan, but when Homer comes back with the press Duff had removed all traces of the evidence Homer found in the room. The journalists dismiss Homer's story and call him a liar. In response, Homer stages a hunger strike in which he chains himself to a pole near Duff Stadium in order to force the owners of the team to admit they are moving to Albuquerque, with support from Lisa, who compares him to Cesar Chavez. He attracts a great deal of attention, so during the night the team decides to move him into the ballpark and exploit his popularity using the name "Hungry, Hungry Homer." The team publicly say that Homer is on a hunger strike until the Isotopes win the pennant, covering up Homer's real message.

After almost two weeks of starvation, Homer has begun to waste away, and he eventually gets too weak to move on his own. He nearly gives in after seeing all the fans eating at the ballpark, but he gets visited by the spirit of Cesar Chavez (looking like Cesar Romero, since Homer doesn't know what Chavez looks like), telling Homer to not give up. Thinking Homer's gone crazy and his smell starting to become bothersome to nearby players, the team's owner unchains Homer, replacing him with a new publicity act named "Paint-Drinking Pete", and, in a public ceremony, offers him a free hot dog. Homer realizes the hot dog is topped with Southwestern ingredients (such as mesquite grilled onions, mango-lime salsa and jalapeño relish), proving the team really is moving to Albuquerque. The crowd then takes notice that the hot dogs are even wrapped with "Albuquerque Isotopes" paper and become enraged. Howard tries to continue his lies but the crowd orders Howard to tell the truth. Howard refuses to tell the truth and orders Duffman to get rid of Homer, but Duffman turns against him and throws him out of the stadium. Homer's hunger strike is over as he celebrates under a shower of food thrown by the cheering fans, praising him as a hero for exposing Howard's lies.

As a result of Homer exposing the scheme, the mayor of Albuquerque decides to abandon his plan to steal the Isotopes and instead plans to purchase the Dallas Cowboys and force them to play baseball because, as he menacingly proclaims at the end of the episode, "For I am the Mayor of Albuquerque!"