living in a tree

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 4/19/01 1:11:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, pulliam at IIT.EDU
writes:

<< White Sox announcers John Rooney and Ed Farmer tonight noted that
 ballplayers will say "He's living in a tree" about someone who is
 going through a great fielding streak, gobbling up every ball
 anywhere near them.  Rooney and Farmer were mystified as to the
 metaphorical origin of the phrase--I would assume the ballplayers are
 likening the streaking player to a squirrel, but of course I could be
 wrong.  Anybody got any other ideas? >>

a very long shot: is "living in a tree" related to "out of your tree", a
phrase meaning "crazy, eccentric, nonsensical"?  (I heard this phrase from a
classmate in college in 1966).

         - Jim Landau