Published: May 14, 2008 10:17 am         

Direct Kick: Can of Corn and a Duck Snort

Baseball is a sport full of colorful terms. What got me thinking on this was a conversation I had recently with Keith Gilbert, assistant coach at South Laurel. Keith had mentioned a couple of terms and asked if I knew how they became known as that. I told him I wasn’t sure, and he suggested that it might make a good column, and I agreed.

So I went to Wikipedia to see if I could find some answers, and boy, did I ever. So here it goes. Some of these you might be familiar with; some, probably not. But all are very interesting.

Can of Corn: Of course this means an easily caught fly ball. Supposedly the term comes from a general store clerk reaching up and dropping a can from a high shelf. Mike Zolk, from Frankford High School in Philadelphia, coined the phrase in a 1936 game against NorthEast High.

Cheese: A fastball. Didn’t know that.

Dying Quail: A batted ball that drops in front of the outfielders for a hit. Also similar to a duck snort (see Duck Snort) and a Texas Leaguer (see Texas Leaguer).

Chin Music: A high and tight, up and in pitch.

Climbing the Ladder: A tactic where a pitcher delivers a succession of pitches outside of the strike zone, each higher than the last, in hopes of getting the batter to strike out at a high pitch.

Southpaw: Everybody knows this means a left-handed pitcher. The reason lefties are called southpaws is because most baseball stadiums are built so that home plate is in the west and the outfield in the east, so that when the sun sets it is not in the batter’s eye. Because of that a lefty’s arm is always facing south when he faces the plate, thus, southpaw.

Ducks on the Pond: When runners are on bases, especially if the bases are loaded. They all look like, well, ducks on a pond.

Duck Snort: Softly hit ball that goes over the infielder and lands in the outfield for a hit. This one, believe it or not, comes from a duck passing gas. It was assumed that a duck's feathers would make its flatulence as soft (or quiet) as the hit.

Cup of Coffee: A short time spent by a minor league player at the major league level, as in being there just long enough for a cup of coffee.

Baltimore Chop: A short, downward swing intended to make the ball rebound off home plate or the packed dirt in front of the plate. This was a tactic used by the Baltimore Orioles of the National League in the 1890s, and John McGraw (former player and manager) is supposed to have had the earth in front of home compacted for this purpose.

Tin Glove: Poor fielding, as if the glove is made of inflexible material.

Tools of Ignorance: Catcher’s gear. I guess because people assume you can’t be too bright if you want to be a catcher, taking all that punishment.

Tater: Slang for a home run. The term started in the 1970s as a long tater. The baseball has been known as a “potato” or “tater” for generations.

Daisy Cutter: An old fashioned term for a hard hit ground ball close enough to theoretically be able to lop the tops off daisies that might be growing on the field.

Texas Leaguer: A weakly hit fly ball that drops fro a single between infield and outfield, also called flares or bloopers. There are many theories as to how it got its named. One is that Ollie Pickering hit seven bloop hits in a row in his baseball debut in the Texas League. Another is that three players had been traded up to the majors from the Texas League and beat a team with bloop singles in their first game. The synopsis of the game reported the hits as ‘dinky Texas Leaguers’. Another theory is attributed to New York Giants second baseman Larry Doyle, who played in the majors between 1907-1920. He said he noticed the Gulf stream breezes had a major effect on fly balls in the Texas League cities. Balls that were seemingly hit hard enough to make it to an outfielder would be knocked down by the strong winds and fall between an infielder and outfielder.

And that’s just the tip of the glove. Go to Wikipedia and type in ‘baseball jargon’ and you will find many, many more.