Austin, Ruby, Leland, and Milo, the Goose Eggs
Austin, Leland, Milo, and Ruby, also known as "The Goose Eggs" are minor characters in the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. They first appeared on March 11, 1977.
History
The storyline which introduced "The Goose Eggs" begins on February 25, 1977, when Charlie Brown becomes very annoyed at The Kite-Eating Tree. He decides to take revenge on the tree, and takes a bite out of it. A week later, Sally reads Charlie Brown a letter he has received from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It says it is illegal to bite trees. Charlie Brown has to run away from home to avoid jail.
He soon meets two toddlers, named Austin and Ruby and then finds himself coaching their baseball team. Milo and Leland, two other children on the baseball team, are half Charlie Brown's height, while "the two biggest" on the team, Austin and Ruby, might be three. They always address Charlie Brown as "Charles" (the only other characters who called him that are Marcie and Eudora) and respect him as a wise elder, something he is completely unused to.
On March 30, Ruby names their team "The Goose Eggs", which is a baseball term for a zero score. The storyline ends when the visiting team turns out to be Charlie Brown's original team from home (Lucy says: "We can't play them! They're too little! We'd step on them!") and it is revealed that the evidence against Charlie Brown was destroyed in a storm. That means Charlie Brown can stop being a fugitive. Before he goes home, Charlie Brown says that because Lucy forfeited, the Goose Eggs won. The children are proud of their first victory, and Milo gives Charlie Brown encouragement saying that when he gets older, he wants to manage a team like him.
"The Goose Eggs" also appear in the animated television specials, It's an Adventure, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Celebration. Leland is seen in another special, It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown, and in that special, it is said he is Frieda's brother.
The Goose Eggs possibly make another appearance in another storyline starting October 8, 1987, where three children ask Charlie Brown if they can join his football team. It is possible that the children who appear are The Goose Eggs, because they are made fun of for being small again, and one of them is named Leland. However, it is possible that they are not The Goose Eggs, because there are three children, rather than four, and none of their faces are shown.