The term FAN is a shortened form of the word fanatic, as in any New York Yankees' fan who sits in the bleacher seats during a game against the Boston Red Sox!
By the way, those BLEACHER seats are called that because they are uncovered and exposed to the sun, therefore they were the ones to get "bleached" of color faster (especially true of he older wooden variety that were painted) than the more expensive "covered" seats.
Where did the baseball term "Texas leaguer" come from? From the minor baseball league in Texas - a nickname for balls that dropped between the outfielders and infielders for a hit.
A left-handed pitcher's arm faces south in most stadiums so they are called SOUTHPAWS
When you substitute a batter because the team is in a "pinch" (or bad situation), that player is called the PINCH HITTER (same applies for pinch runners)
DUGOUTS were originally dug out trenches at the first and third base lines that allowed players and coaches to be at field level AND did not block the view of the choice seats behind them.
Baseball: An Illustrated History
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks
Oh yes...good stuff and the PONY league(minor league division) was an acronym for "Pennsylvania Oneonta New York" League,
ReplyDeleteBTW ...I am told by some old timers that a Texas leaguer was a criticism as those who played in the Texas league wouldn't hustle to run in or back to get pop flies.It was too hot in the outfield to run in for pop flies. It was also a cheap shot at the Texas league batters as it was believed that they didn't hit the ball as long or as hard as others."Spit balls" were coated with real chewing tobacco spit that would real make the ball do some outrageous things.