Yanigan (baseball term)

[Gerald Cohen]

First, thanx to Barry for unearthing the 1904 item on "Yanigan."
Also, the 19c Baseball discussion group has had a few messages on
this term (two of which are reproduced below my signoff, plus Barry's
message).

Gerald Cohen
member of American Dialect Society and 19cBB


>At 9:29 AM -0400 9/23/02, John Thorn wrote:
>X-Apparently-To: 19cBB at yahoogroups.com
>To: "Nineteenth Century" <19cBB at yahoogroups.com>
>Organization: The Toy Department
>From: "John Thorn" <john at toy-department.com>
>Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 09:29:47 -0400
>Subject: [19cBB] Re: Con Yannigan
>Reply-To: 19cBB at yahoogroups.com
>
>
>In reply to Peter Morris's query:
>
>'Who on earth is Con Yannigan?  I have long been seeking the exact origins
>of
>the term "yannigan," used to describe a player on an inexperienced side
>(usually during spring training).  I have narrowed down the period of its
>origin and have found some interesting accounts about it, but nothing on the
>exact etymology.  Dickson's Baseball Dictionary goes so far as to say "there
>is no clear link between this word and a word in another language or an
>earlier form of English or an English dialect."  This seems promising; can
>you elucidate?"
>
>Here goes. Some fifteen yeras ago I found an undated news clip from the 1898
>New York World, titled "Armless, Legless Pitchers," in the Cy Seymour
>Scrapbooks in the National Baseball Library. I included it in my "Armchair
>Book of Baseball II, published buy Scribners in 1987." In my introductory
>remarks I wrote that the clip was "replete with unexpected pleasures" that
>included "the stunningly offhand solution to one of game's most perplexing
>mysteries--the origin of the epithet 'yannigan,' reserved for scrub or
>second-rate players."
>
>Here, from the World:
>
>"Another cripple who was famous as a ballpayer was 'Con' Yannigan, who made
>a big reputation around Hartford, Connecticut, several years ago. He was a
>first baseman and had a cork leg. Yannigan was brought out by 'Steve' Brady,
>of the 'Old Mets.' 'Steve' considered him one of the best first baseman he
>ever saw. A great play of his was to block off base runners with his game
>leg. Opposing players could sharpen their spikes to a razor edge, but 'Con'
>didn't scare for  a cent."
>
>Is this a Paul Bunyan sort of yarn? Maybe. But there it is, an emerging
>legend in 1898, and a solid answer as to how yannigans came to be called
>yannigans.
>
>John Thorn
>


****

[22 Sept. 2002 message from Peter Morris]:

>To: <19cBB at yahoogroups.com>
>From: "Peter Morris" <moxbib at voyager.net>
>Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 20:24:49 -0400
>Subject: RE: [19cBB] Con Yannigan
>
>Who on earth is Con Yannigan?  I have long been seeking the exact origins of
>the term "yannigan," used to describe a player on an inexperienced side
>(usually during spring training).  I have narrowed down the period of its
>origin and have found some interesting accounts about it, but nothing on the
>exact etymology.  Dickson's Baseball Dictionary goes so far as to say "there
>is no clear link between this word and a word in another language or an
>earlier form of English or an English dialect."  This seems promising; can
>you elucidate?
>
>One-Arm Daily was still alive and living in Baltimore in 1923 at age 75, but
>I've checked for a dc in Baltimore and Washington without success.  He'd
>already faded into obscurity by then and probably died in a hospital outside
>of Baltimore.
>
>Peter Morris



At 5:30 AM -0500 12/3/02, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>Date:         Tue, 3 Dec 2002 05:30:38 EST
>Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>From: Bapopik at AOL.COM
>Subject:      Yanigan, Lalapaloosa (1904); TAD myth (April 1930)
>Comments: cc: ASmith1946 at aol.com
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU



>...   "Lollapalooza" is in the RHHDAS as "orig. unkn."  The first citation is
>from George Ade in 1896.  The second citation (a baseball one) is from the
>1898 SPORTING NEWS and "coll. B. Popik."  It's probably here somewhere
>underneath my stuff from Easter Island, or is it mixed in with...
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>---------------------------------------------
>YANIGAN, LALAPALOOSA
>
>    10 April 1904, WASHINGTON POST, pg. S2:
>     _ORIGIN OF "YANIGANS."_
>_Baseball Term Which Applies to the Second Team in Practice._
>Charles Dryden, in Philadelphia North American.
>    With the opening of the annual spring training season the term "Yanigans,"
>as applied to the second team in practice games, bursts into print.  The word
>is used at no other time in the career of the athletes, and the fanatic, no
>doubt, wonders why is a Yanigan.  He must have had an origin.
>    Authorities on baseball trace the term to a native Philadelphian, no other
>than the Hon. Mike Grady, a catcher and orator of renown.  Mike is said to be
>the father of Yanigan, according to Connie Mack and Lave Cross.  These
>historians claim the word was first applied to Philadelphia players, and
>first apepared in the Philadelphia papers ten years ago.
>    In 1894 the Quaker team went into camp at Hampton Roads, Va.  The immortal
>Grady was a member of the party.  The manager placed Mike in charge of the
>also-rans, or second team, and the ease with which the Regulars walloped the
>bitumen out of the dubs inspired Mike to produce a word that lives in the
>language of the game.
>    In the ancient Celtic tongue Yanigan means anything that can be easily
>beaten, like carpets or a soft-boiled egg.  Being a student of the classics,
>Mike was familiar with the word.  He had it stowed away in his mind, but
>never found occasion to spring it until as captain of the second team his
>proud spirit blazed under the sting of constant defeat.
>    So it came about that one balmy afternoon in the spring of 1894, Hampton
>Roads was stirred by the spectacle of Mr. Grady standing in the street in
>front of the Quaker training quarters.  He was swinging his cap and howling,
>"Come on, you Yanigan; come on and get it again!"
>    No one present knew the meaning of the word, but it seemed to fit Grady's
>mood and the case.  The scribes took it up, and from that day to this Yanigan
>has emerged regularly from its hole along about groundhog time to play a
>brief engagement in the public prints.  Soon after April Fool Day the word
>hokes back to its hole to hibernate the better part of another year.
>    Yanigan doesn't spread much ink outside of the Quaker City.  Sometimes the
>St. Louis papers spring it, which fact strengthens the claim made on behalf
>of Grady.  The irresponsible Mike once played in that city, and is now a
>member of the Cardinal team, having been taken on as a special World's Fair
>attraction to play first base and keep the conversation from lagging.
>    Grady is also said to be the author of Lalapaloosa, the meaning of which
>is somewhat obscure, though it sometimes butts into a tight game.  Mike would
>gladly elucidate if gently approached by letter, care of the St. Louis
>Cardinals.
>
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