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coxfan
09-26-2013, 07:24 AM
Here are some old terms no longer used in baseball:

1) "First division and second division": Before divisional play started in 1969, the term "first division" referred to clubs in the top four spots in the eight-club leagues (and the top five when there were ten-club leagues in the 60's.). Clubs in the bottom four spots were called "second-division" clubs; always in a derogatory way.

2)"Cellar": Before there were geographical divisions in 1969, there was only one last-place team in each league. The word "cellar" meant last place. When the Yankees briefly hit last place in the AL early in the 1959 season, the headlines screamed: "Yankees hit cellar!"

3) "Journeyman": Before free agency, players could change clubs only if traded. Since fan loyalty inhibited the trading of star players, a "journeyman" player was a derogatory term used for marginal players (utility or long relievers, etc.) who could be traded around a lot without being missed by the fans anywhere.

4) "Backed into a pennant" meant a team which clinched a league pennant, despite losing a game, through a loss by the second-place team.

5) In the 19th century, the word "hippodroming" was commonly applied to teams who were suspected of deliberately losing to extend a series, and thus get more gate receipts. ( Before league play, championships were often settled by "best-of" series between two teams.) This is why World Series receipts are shared with players only for the first four games as of the 20th century.

6) "Revolving":In the mid 19th century, before professional play was legal, players could change teams simply by resigning from one baseball club and joining another. When the top clubs got into fierce competition, top players would be induced (often by quasi-professional means) to change clubs multiple times during a season. This "revolving" was sharply criticized, but commonly practiced.

slab0meat
09-26-2013, 09:03 AM
I still see/hear "cellar" and "journeyman"

Jags Fan Dan
09-26-2013, 12:56 PM
A pitcher used to be called a hurler. I learned it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Aax2V7a3S4

ironmanfan
09-26-2013, 03:16 PM
How about "double-header?"

:)

sox83cubs84
09-26-2013, 09:30 PM
How about "backstop" for a catcher, "tools of ignorance" for catchers' gear, and "flychaser" for an outfielder?

Dave Miedema

cjw
09-27-2013, 01:10 AM
How about: "Toronto Blue Jays - playoff team"

metsbats
09-27-2013, 08:34 AM
Twi-night is hardly ever heard since doubleheaders are rare.

How about "hot corner" for 3rd base?

godwulf
09-27-2013, 11:17 AM
I still see/hear "cellar" and "journeyman"

So do I. "Cellar" now simply applies to whoever occupies the lowest spot in each division. "Journeyman" still seems to refer to a player who has changed uniforms a bunch of times, but I think any derogatory connotation has pretty much disappeared from the word.


A pitcher used to be called a hurler.

Hey, if you really want to go back in time, he was referred to as the "feeder". We're talking Elysian Fields territory.


How about "double-header?"

Last season, the Diamondbacks had to play a double-header at home, due to scheduling problems, and it was so popular with the fans that they went ahead this year and scheduled one from the outset, and plan to make it a yearly tradition.

coxfan
09-27-2013, 06:57 PM
I seem to recall that around 1960, double-headers, with two games on one ticket, were done once a week (usually Sundays). That was soon replaced by the modern custom of only for postponed games; and requiring two tickets.

sox83cubs84
09-27-2013, 07:35 PM
"World Series Champion Chicago Cubs":p :p :p

Dave Miedema

coxfan
09-28-2013, 05:46 PM
Today's word "muff" is apparently akin to the 19th century word "muffin", which referred to the weakest class of players. In the 1850's, when amateur clubs were the basis of organized baseball, clubs would sometimes arrange "muffin" games as a sideline to games involving their stronger nines. In the rough humor of the times, those "muffin" games were the source of much amusement by the spectators. I just saw a "muffed" punt in a football game, and it reminded me of this now-extinct practice.

godwulf
09-28-2013, 07:25 PM
Apparently, "muffin" is still used in Great Britain as a derogatory term for a physically weak or inept man...so possibly that, like so many other Baseball terms, was derived in some way from the game of cricket and those who played it.

Incidentally, whatever you do, do not go looking for the definition of "muffin" at urbandictionary.com. Trust me. :eek:

Mark17
09-28-2013, 08:38 PM
I believe there used to be a box around the pitcher's mound, similar to the batters box. Hence the term: "Ames was knocked out of the box in the third, when the Red Sox scored four times."

Another term that's largely gone by the wayside: Can of corn (easy fly ball out)

And I've always thought it odd that the Trolley Dodgers now play in Los Angeles, along with the Lakers. How many trolleys or lakes are in LA?

godwulf
09-29-2013, 10:34 AM
Some early ballfields had a dirt path between home plate and the pitcher's mound, called the Pitcher's Walk. When Chase Field (then Bank One Ballpark) was built in '95-98, Jerry Colangelo thought it would be a good thing - sort of a tribute to early Baseball history - to revive the practice, and the Diamondbacks have had one ever since. I don't know if any other MLB fields have followed suit, or maybe even had them before that.

DJaeger22
09-29-2013, 01:35 PM
Some early ballfields had a dirt path between home plate and the pitcher's mound, called the Pitcher's Walk. When Chase Field (then Bank One Ballpark) was built in '95-98, Jerry Colangelo thought it would be a good thing - sort of a tribute to early Baseball history - to revive the practice, and the Diamondbacks have had one ever since. I don't know if any other MLB fields have followed suit, or maybe even had them before that.

My local MiLB team, Delmarva Shorebirds, still have this at their stadium. It seems like the home plate umpires like it since it makes it pretty simple to roll a ball up on the mound at certain points during the game and land it pretty close to the rubber every time.

TNTtoys
09-30-2013, 03:57 PM
And I've always thought it odd that the Trolley Dodgers now play in Los Angeles, along with the Lakers. How many trolleys or lakes are in LA?

No more odd than Utah being known for its Jazz music or Memphis being known for Grizzly bears!!

mook03005
09-30-2013, 07:44 PM
i may not be an old timer in terms of following baseball play by play coverge but I rarely hear "throw them the deuce (curve)", or "handcuff an infielder"

sox83cubs84
09-30-2013, 08:17 PM
I never hear the term "2 o'clock hitter" anymore. That describes a players who smoked the ball in BP, but was mediocre, at best, during the game.

Dave Miedema

TNTtoys
09-30-2013, 10:24 PM
How about referring to the curve ball as "Uncle Charlie?"

Jim65
10-01-2013, 06:33 AM
"can of corn" a flyball that is caught

"punch and judy hitter" singles hitter who hits to all fields

beachpetrol
10-01-2013, 11:13 AM
How about throwing a "spitball".

godwulf
10-04-2013, 01:13 PM
How about throwing a "spitball".

That brings up something that I've been thinking about for years. There have always been rules about a pitcher not "going to his mouth", obviously for fear that he's going to transfer some saliva from it to the ball...and yet, a pitcher can take his cap off, wipe his hand all over his sweat-soaked head, and then take the baseball in that hand. Does this make sense?

sox83cubs84
10-05-2013, 09:22 PM
Bases Drunk (for bases loaded).

Dave M.

coxfan
10-06-2013, 09:26 AM
How about "flied out?" For a batter whose fly ball is caught. These days, it seems to be changing to "flew out" though "flied out" was standard when I was growing up.

In high school in the 1960's, several of us were adamant with our English teacher that "flied out" was accepted usage for baseball. Complicating matters was that her husband was a baseball coach, who'd never heard "Flied out." But we were so adamant that our teacher accepted that we knew whereof we spoke on the matter.

coxfan
11-24-2013, 08:45 AM
"Rabbit ears" for a player who's over-sensitive to heckling. That was a common term through the 1950's.

coxfan
11-24-2013, 10:47 AM
"good field, no hit" for a player (self-explanatory.).

"Bush leagues" for the minors. "Bush and "busher" for a mlb player who doesn't meet MLB standards.

"Texas Leaguer" for bloop hit.

Mark17
11-28-2013, 10:22 PM
You still hear the term "In the hole" when a shortstop goes deep to his right to make a play on a grounder, but I haven't heard it used to describe the batter who follows the on-deck hitter. We used to use that term all the time when we were kids. I think it used to refer to the part of the dugout nearest the plate, near the bat rack, where that hitter would wait his turn.

If an inning was just starting and someone told you that you were in the hole, it meant you'd hit third that inning - meaning you'd be batting for certain.

cohibasmoker
11-29-2013, 08:40 AM
How about when pitchers threw "the high hard one"?

Jim

metsbats
11-29-2013, 08:07 PM
I've not heard announcers use the "Mendoza line" much anymore.

coxfan
12-06-2013, 05:25 PM
"Bonus baby" was a term used in the latter years of the reserve clause, before modern free agency. The only free agents back then were amateur prospects, who became the property of clubs for good once they signed their first pro contract. Clubs would give big amateur prospects signing bonuses of up to $100,000. That was big bucks at a time when rookies typically made $6,000, and even big stars like Mantle made only $75,000 in a season.

The "Bonus baby" concept was controversial as clubs feared spending would get out of hand. So to discourage the practice there was a rule that bonus babies had to go right onto the MLB club's roster without minor-league time. That was a terrible idea which contributed to the failure of nearly all bonus babies. Al Kaline, who got only $25,000 to sign, was an exception.