"Tom Brown" as an 1896 baseball term

[Laurence Horn]

>Thanks for the suggestion. But what went on in _Tom Brown's
>Schooldays_ that would be relevant to an unsuccessfully batted ball?
>
>Gerald Cohen

Beats me; I've never read it.  That's why I was idly speculating.
Can anyone confirm or disconfirm my guess?

L

>
>>  ----------
>>  From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of Laurence Horn
>>  Sent:         Thursday, June 23, 2005 3:20 PM
>>  To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject:           Re: "Tom Brown" as an 1896 baseball term
>>
>         <snip>
>>  Could there be an allusion here to the Tom Brown of _Tom Brown's
>>Schooldays_, despite the Victorian England provenance of that book,
>>which would certainly have been well known in the U.S. as well as
>>Britain at that time?  Just a thought.
>>
>>  Larry
>>
>>