World Series Special: The Language of Baseball

Writing about the golden age of sports reporting, baseball historian Harold Seymour illustrated the sort of colorful language that was in vogue at the end of the 19th century:

Teams that failed to score a run were "whitewashed," "calcimined," "skunked," "shut out," or "Chicagoed." Balls were not caught; "flies" were "hauled in" or "throws" "pulled down." Batters "wielded the ash," "slapped out a dandy single," or "slashed out a peach." They were not put out, but "died an easy death," "smothered," or "expired in anguish." Runners "galloped," "romped," "cantered," and "scampered." They "pilfered second," "tobogganed into third," or "tried to embezzle home plate." Teams fought each other "like two cats hung by the tails over a family clothesline," and a player hit on the head by a pitched ball might "stagger around like an alligator with the mumps."
(Harold Seymour, Baseball: The Early Years, Oxford University Press, 1960)

Although today's sportswriters are more inclined to rattle off stats than to conjure fresh metaphors, the game of baseball continues to enrich our vocabulary. To mark the start of the 2008 World Series, please join us in celebrating the Language of Baseball.

After all, to misquote Jacques Barzun, "Whoever wants to know the distinctive qualities of the English language in America had better learn baseball."

Image: Cap Anson, third baseman for the Chicago White Stockings, pictured on an 1887 Allen & Ginter's tobacco card