Thomas County cat., 1889-08-22
BASEBALL SLANG.


BASEBALL SLANG.
Peculiar Phraseoloey Developed by the
Interest Taken in the Game.
As natural result of the wide
spread interest in baseball. a nonen-
clature OF the field has sprung up
which is pure Greek to the initiated.
What would a man ignorant of the
game make OF such printed express.
slons as ''muffs." ''fungoes," '.sky-
scrapers," ''steals," s'slukes," s.balls"
and hundred other kindred express
sions? But each one of these has a
significance which opens a whole land
scape of possibilities to the ball crank.
These words are keys to the crucial
positions in the game to the man who
understands them. In addition to this
phase of the subject there are thousands
OF well-paid critics whose business is to
keep records and to make comments
on the game and the players. These men
rake mythology and history to find
metaphors in which to express orig
inal ideas. This is peculiarly oner-
Gus duty, from the fact that the game
is capable of only limited number of
combinations. and as the same plays
must occur indefinitely in every game,
the reporter has an onerous time of it.
The following specimens of descrip-
ton is given as a sample of what kind
of writing is required of the first-class
baseball reporter The description
appertains to a critical play-the fly
catch. on which may hang the fate Of
the game:
''Anson smote the ball square in the
nose in a way that startled the seams
and away sailed the sphere toward the
blue sky. Eyes watched it in its grace
full fight, and among them was q pair
owned by Gore.
HE took one glance to determine
the spot where grass and horsehide
would meet unless flesh interviewed and
a quick run through the grass of sew
enty-fve feet. Then he sat his heels
heavily in the sod and raised his hands
above his head in the position of a
Pagan asking succor of the sun, his
calf and thigh muscles stiffened and
his teeth chucked together. It was a
moment of intense anxiety when five
thousand bleachers raised from their
seats, with bated breath. with dilated
nostrils. and while the sphere. stained
with grass juice, was scooting through
space like a falling meteor, Pfeffer
was standing on the first bag in the
attitude of a runner waiting for the
word Co The umpire stood waiting,
with judgment in his eyes; the rose
buds in the grand stand. with parted
lips, were waiting; the boy in the tree
outside the fence was SO absorbed that
he did not notice his heart beating a
quick tattoo against his ribs as he
glued his eyes on the falling ball. A
stiffness like that preceding a cyclone
on the Caribbean Sea was over all the
scene. The ball descended with ac-
celerated speed as it neared the earth.
Now it was one hundred feet away,
now only fifty, ten. five. Then it was
gripped between Cores palms like a
June bug in the jaws of bat. A
shout went up such as saluted the ears
Of Spartacus when he thrust his blade
through the lions heart in the Roman
arena The suspense was over, men
stood on their feet and howled their
frenzied delight at the superb feat,
and pandemonium reigned for nearly |
4 minute. Gore threw the ball to the
pitcher, modestly bowed his thanks !
or the ovation and the game went on.
The incident consumed less than a |
minute, and yet how much of human
achievement. how much of passion
had been squeezed into that brief
space IN. Y. Star