"Jazz" in the LATimes, 1912 & 1917

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, Aug 04, 2003 at 12:51:49PM -0400, George Thompson wrote:
> However:
>
> A story from April 2, 1912 was headlined "Ben's Jazz Curve"
> and began "'I got a new curve this year' softly murmered
> Henderson yesterday, 'and I am goin' to pitch one or two of
> them tomorrow.  I call it the Jazz ball because it wobbles
> and you simply can't do anything with it."  This paragraph
> is not very legible, but the reading is correct, and the
> word in the headline is unmistakable.  The second and last
> paragraph is even less legible, but the reporter is
> skeptical, and hopes that "some unintelligent compositor"
> doesn't set "jag ball" by mistake, because if the ball
> wobbles, that must be why.

Does this mean that Jerry owes you, what, $100? $1000? What
was the posted reward?

Jesse Sheidlower
OED