Friendly Confines (Ebbets Field, 1922)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Where is that "friendly confines" guy?  Can someone send this to him?
   It looks like Mr. Cub Ernie Banks didn't coin this in the 1960s.  The citations for "friendly confines" are indeed about baseball stadiums, but Banks probably got it from manager Leo Durocher who probably got it from Brooklyn.

   19 May 1922, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 21:
   It was only the second victory for the Brooklyn players since leaving the friendly confines of Ebbets Field some ten days ago.

   3 July 1922, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 13:
   Following an extended visit to Boston, the Robins returned to the friendly confines of Ebbets Field yesterday.

   27 July 1934, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 11:
   But they are again on top, headed back to the friendly confines of the stadium in the Bronx, and this is something.

   2 February 1969, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 52:
   "Ah.  The friendly confines of beautiful, ivy-covered Wrigley Field where you play ball under the world's best lights, the solar system."
(Spoken by Ernie Banks--ed.)