spring training

[Fred Shapiro]

On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, George Thompson wrote:

> 1897 Sporting News 27 Mar. 5/3, I am on my way to join the Boston team
> at Savannah where the players have all been ordered to report for
> *spring training.

I was the one who contributed that quotation to the OED Supplement.
There's a slightly earlier baseball usage in the New York Times:

1897 _N.Y. Times_ 20 Mar. 3 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  The
representatives of the New York Baseball Club were put through their usual
course of Spring training today under the watchful eye of Capt. Joyce, but
under cover.

Probably the Washington Post used this in 1896. Barry?

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------