"hot dog" baseball player, 1954

[Gerald Cohen]

At 9:28 PM -0400 5/29/04, Laurence Horn wrote:
>At 2:41 PM -0500 5/29/04, Gerald Cohen wrote:
>>                                * * *
>>
>>        This is the earliest example I have thus far for baseball 'hot dog.'
>>Its exact meaning isn't clear, although the term is certainly derogatory.
>>The previous earliest one is 1959. The 1954 term may have been
>>imported to baseball from boxing, where it referred to really
>>bad/second-rate fighters
>>(so bad that fans would leave for hot dogs and other refreshments).
>>Friendlich would likely have been familiar with the boxing term 'hot
>>dog,' since his work as a reporter foro the San Francisco Chronicle
>>included covering professional
>>boxing.
>>
>Nice antedate, Jerry.  But I wonder about the etymology for the
>boxing term, as given in your parenthetical.  Is there evidence that
>this is indeed the motivation for calling second-rate fighters hot
>dogs, or is that just a (perhaps reasonable) speculation?
>
>Larry


*****

I have several statements (thanx to Barry Popik) that "hot dog"
boxers/fighters/men received this appellation because they were so
bad that customers would leave to get hot dogs and other refreshments.

   Here's an excerpt from the May issue of Comments on Etymology
(forthcoming; another source says that the term "hot dog" fighters
was created by the concessionaires at Madison Square Garden):

        Ads-l message, May 20, 2004, from Barry Popik, upon checking
Proquest Historical Newspapers:
'D.C. Ring Body Seeks "Angel" For Salary Bill'
by Al Hailey. The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Jun
9, 1941. pp. 16, 18, col. 7:
        'Now the boxing records of these three pet referees of the
"Brown" members of the New York Commission would make interesting
reading.  None of them could fight a lick.  I know, for I managed
Donovan.  Fullum was only a four-rounder, and just one of the
"stink-aroos" at that.  CAVANAUGH, WHO FOUGHT UNDER THE NAME OF BILLY
GLOVER, WAS WHAT IS NOW CALLED A "HOT DOG FIGHTER."  WHEN HE BOXED,
THE CUSTOMERS RAN OUT TO THE "HOT DOG STANDS." [G. Cohen: my caps.].
Of Donovan, as a fighter, the less said the better.  You, in
Washington, saw "Little Arthur" work!'

Gerald Cohen