"do a Christopherson" (1913)--query

Gerald Cohen gcohen at UMR.EDU
Thu Aug 2 17:30:20 UTC 2001


    Would anyone have any idea who Christopherson was in the quote
below? It appears in the last sentence of the passage, where "do a
Christopherson" refers to an extreme desire to avoid something.  But
who was he and what exactly did he do?

    Any assistance would be much appreciated.

     The quoted passage appears in a baseball article of the newspaper
_San Francisco Bulletin_----Feb. 27, 1913, p.17/1-2; 'Seals, Young
and Old, Show...Spirit'; col. 2: 'Paul Revere might have been some
rider, but he didn't have anything on Duffy Lewis.  At least, that's
what that crowd at [spring training camp at] Boyes aver, and to
substantiate their claims they point to Denny Carroll, who has the
proofs.
        'The camp is still laughing over Duffy's attempt to emulate
the historic horseman and the sorry effects which attended the Boston
player's canter last Sunday.
        '"Duff" accompanied a party to Sonoma on horseback, this
being his first experience on a filly.  Going and coming the sport
proved exhilarating and Lewis remained up to a late hour bragging
about his performance.  When morning came, Duffy, who had planned to
depart for Palo Alto to coach the Cardinal tossers [i.e., Stanford U.
players], was so stiff that he could not stir.  He had to summon a
masseur before he was able to venture out of his room.
        'Just mention horseback riding to Lewis and he will do a
Christopherson.  With him it's no longer a sport, but a torture.'

---Gerald Cohen



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