"How do you make a small fortune in lexicography?"

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

"There's a joke baseball owners like to tell: 'How do you make a small fortune owning a baseball team?  Start with a large fortune!'"
--VILLAGE VOICE (www.villagevoice.com), jockbeat column in latest issue

   Does Fred Shapiro have this one?
   A web check ("make a small fortune" & "large") shows the joke in many different fields.  Paul Dickson might be interested, but I don't think it originated in baseball.  Where did it originate?
   If I had to guess, I'd pick Wall Street.  1960s?
   From a recent cartoon on TheStreet at www.thestreet.com/markets/lolfree/00001709.html:

"It's easy to make a small fortune.  All you need to start with is a large fortune."