Season 11, Episode 9 (December 20, 1982). Teleplay by Elias Davis & David Pollock; Story by Mike Farrell, Elias Davis & David Pollock; Directed by Nell Cox.
Klinger hatches his "foolproof" scheme when a champion sprinter is assigned to the 4077th: challenge rival unit the 8063rd to a race and clean up on the bets. He ropes Hawkeye, B.J., and Margaret into wagering a week's pay each—but when the new arrival turns out to be the sprinter's out-of-shape father, the camp must pin its hopes (and money) on an unlikely ringer: Father Mulcahy. The good padre agrees to run on one condition—if he wins, the engineers rebuild the orphanage's crumbling roof.
Meanwhile, Winchester takes Private Walter Palmer (Phil Brock), a wounded engineer mocked for his severe stutter, under his wing. Palmer has an above-average IQ but has been called "dumb" and "Porky" so often—by his fellow engineers and even his commander, Captain Sweeney—that he believes it himself and reads only comic books [1].
Winchester overhears the mockery and confronts Sweeney, warning that he'll write a detailed report of his "inhumanity" for his permanent record. Then he takes Palmer for what he says are x-rays, but it's really a ruse for a private conversation. He assures Palmer a speech impediment is no measure of intelligence—he can aspire to far more than comic books. To prove it, Winchester confides that he himself reads Captain Marvel, then gifts Palmer a treasured leather-bound hardcover of Moby-Dick.
When Palmer asks why Winchester is being so nice, he deflects and takes him back to Post Op. The episode's final scene reveals why: Winchester returns to the Swamp and listens to an audio tape from his sister Honoria—and we learn that she also stutters. The look of contentment on his face shows his connection to Palmer.
Notably, actor David Ogden Stiers (who played Winchester) stuttered throughout his childhood, adolescence, and early career. He said being an actor helped cure him: "I didn't stutter when the lines were written for me. Without lines to read was another story... I overcame it by not giving up, by continuing to play roles." Stiers explained that Winchester would never admit to acts of kindness—it was part of his "glacial exterior" character trait.
A warm, funny episode about wagers won and hearts even bigger, capped by a twist that leaves schemer Klinger racing to cancel his bets.