"clever" (= skillful, adroit)

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:27 PM -0500 6/30/02, Gerald Cohen wrote:
>    My thanx again to Laurence Horn for his baseball insights. But
>just as a clarification on the 1913 term "clever" as used in
>reference to Tris Speaker's playing, the term does not have its
>present meaning. Rather, it means "skillful, adroit."
>
It's actually a very interesting word in terms of subtle semantic
shifts.  I'm aware of (some of) the differences between contemporary
British and U.S. applications of "clever", but hadn't realized the
existence of the baseball application for 'skillful' in earlier U.S.
usage you highlight.  Thanks.

Larry