Definition of earlier baseball term "shoot"

[Gerald Cohen]

    I am pleased to see that Paul Dickson is preparing a new edition
of his baseball dictionary, and I have been contacted for input from
his assistant, Skip McAfee.  Today Mr. McAfee sent out an e-mail
message on the 19th/early 20th century baseball term "shoot" (refers
to a pitch).
    With the benefit of further research I would now define a "shoot"
as "a pitch, especially a fastball." It seems very likely that the
term originated as a fastball, with hard throwing likened to
artillery fire; but from Mr. McAfee's examples where "shoot" refers
to a curveball and from a few that I found where "shoot" could refer
to a spitball, I see that my blanket statement about "shoot"
referring (only) to a fastball is incorrect.

    Presented just below is Mr. McAfee's e-mail message. I'll follow
up on this in a few minutes with a second message; I just don't want
the present one to get too long.

---Gerald Cohen

At 10:26 AM -0400 10/27/01, Skip McAfee wrote:
>Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 10:26:45 -0400
>From: Skip McAfee <xerxes7 at gateway.net>
>X-Sender: "Skip McAfee" <xerxes7 at pop.gateway.net> (Unverified)
>To: 19cBB <19cBB at yahoogroups.com>, Peter Morris <moxbib at voyager.net>,
>         Gerald Cohen <gcohen at umr.edu>, Paul Dickson <newdefiner at aol.com>,
>         SABR-L <SABR-L at APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
>Subject: Definition of "Shoot"
>
>I appeal to 19th-century baseball experts for help in nailing down the
>definition of the noun form of "shoot".
>
>Gerald Cohen ("Studies in Slang", pt.2, 1989), in combing thru late
>19th-century issues of "The World" [New York], defines "shoot" as "a
>fastball, because the pitcher shoots it in to the batter".  For example
>[all of Cohen's quotes below are from "The World"]: "[The pitcher] was
>prepared to serve to the New York batsman a choice selection of curves,
>shoots, and drops" (July 20, 1890) and "The Cleveland pitcher had begun
>to feed the hungry Sutcliffe with fricasseed shoots and fried curves,
>which the New Yorks tried in vain to fork out of the fathomless air as
>they flitted by" (July 3, 1890).
>
>Hence, according to Cohen, an "inshoot" is an inside fastball; e.g.,
>"Perhaps Mark Baldwin ... isn't the most plausible-looking villain that
>ever scuttled the New York ship with inshoots, or cut a Giant's throat
>with curves" (July 12, 1890).  An "outshoot" is an outside fastball;
>e.g., "Sam Wise of the Bostons ... leans over the plate so that an
>outshoot will be within reach" (April 29, 1888).
>
>However, Edward J. Nichols ("An Historical Dictionary of Baseball
>Terminology", 1939) defines "shoot" as "any of the various types of
>throws delivered by a pitcher to a batter", and lists "Harper's Weekly",
>Sept. 10, 1887 as the earliest such use of the term.  But then Nichols
>refers the terms "outshoot" (see "out curve") and "down shoot" (see
>"drop", which is a variety of a curve).  Peter Morris (citing "Grand
>Rapids [Mich.] Herald", May 17. 1903) noted that Fred Goldsmith
>"discovered the 'inshoot', that is, he was able to deliver a swift ball
>with a distinct swerve toward a right-handed batter."  Martin Payne
>("Nineteenth Century Notes", Spring 1999) wrote: "In 1883 the amateur
>Baltimore Club ... [introduced] the overhand curve, or the 'down-shoot'
>then becoming the vogue with the three-quarter motion now allowed in the
>major leagues."  Patrick Ercolano ("Fungoes, Floaters and Fork Balls",
>1987) gives "inshoot" and "outshoot" as synonyms for "incurve" and
>"outcurve", respectively.  I've even seen the term "offshoot" for a
>pitch that curves away from the batter.  And, of course, Frank
>Merriwell's fanciful "double shoot" was a curveball that veered in two
>different directions on its way to the plate.
>
>Venturing into the 21st century, submariner Byung-Hyun Kim has a pitch
>that he calls an "upshoot", which he flings from inches above the dirt
>and sends rising through the strike zone ("Sports Illustrated", June 5,
>2000).
>
>So, is a 19th-century "shoot" a fastball or a curveball, or both?
>
>Skip McAfee
>xerxes7 at gateway.net