turkey=three strikes in a row in bowling

[James Knight, MLIS]

Maybe a start (maybe a waste of ADS-L bandwidth?):

The Johns Hopkins Newsletter, Nov 18, 1999
http://www.jhu.edu/~newslett/11-18-99/Quiz/
...what is the origin of the term "turkey" in bowling? Rumor has it that
the phrase originated in the meat-packing plants of Chicago. Around
Christmas time, workers gathered in the long corridors for semi-illicit
after-hours bowl-a-ramas. Winners were given prize turkeys to take home for
their holiday dinners. This tradition led to the present-day term "turkey"
in bowling. It describes a particularly successful feat.
(Dubious, I'd say.)

Ancestry.com
Evening Bulletin (Decatur, Illinois) > 1896 > December > 26
[Sorry, couldn't make out the page number]
Bowled for Game. Pleasant Pastimes at the Turner Hall Christmas Day.
   Several Gentlemen of the Turner society had a bowling match at the
Turner bowing alley on Christmas day. Three turkeys, four ducks and two
geese were purchased and put up for prizes for the best bowling. Geo.
L_tzenberger, two duck and one turkey; Tony Walser one turkey and one
goose, and F. W. Kipp won one goose.

 From another rr.com subscriber...
http://home.kc.rr.com/lions/knowwhat.htm
...There is no recorded derivation of this term but Chuck Pezzana, the
historian of the Professional Bowlers Association offers a likely origin.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s many bowling alleys began to hold
sweepstakes events during the holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas
offering food as gifts to the winners. The common award for bowling three
strikes in a row was a live turkey. If a person accomplished this feat his
or her teammates would all shout, "turkey!" letting the proprietor know
that the prize had been won. ...

(Didn't find a history page at pba.org.)

Slightly OT. From Wikipedia
Turkey bowling, in which the participants throw frozen turkeys along the
aisles of supermarkets to knock down 2-litre soft drink bottles, is not a
sanctioned sport.

Definitely OT. While looking in Ancestry.com for 'meatpacker bowling', a
_Wash Tubs_ cartoon popped up with the line "What's the matter Ick? You're
pale as a meatpacker's tombstone!"

Meatpacker's tombstone?

-jk

At 11:23 PM 12/29/03, Sam Clements wrote:
>I went bowling with my brothers over the holidays.  I threw three strikes in
>a row(in an otherwise poor showing).  The digital display showed a turkey.
>
>So, where and when did this term originate in the bowling sense?  M-W gets a
>pass as they cite it as meaning #3.  OED doesn't care, if I read it right.
>
>I almost give up on using Ancestry.
>
>Sam Clements