Early "jinks" (1903, 1904, 1910)

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Sat Apr 9 05:25:38 UTC 2005


Some more early instances of "jinks" from the West Coast, and one 1910 item
with a somewhat odd apparent sense similar to the earliest sightings from
1903-7:

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_Los Angeles Times_, 27 Oct. 1903: p. 12:

[title: <<RACE HORSE WAS DOPED.>>]

<<Too much dope that became ripe and got in its work before the right time,
almost put the jinks on the second running race at Agricultural Park
yesterday.>>

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_Los Angeles Times_, 12 July 1904: p. A3:

<<Any one who can furnish reliable information leading to the conviction of
the miscreant who put a "jinks" on the Los Angeles baseball club's batting
eyes last spring will likely receive a free pass for the rest of the season
by advising Manager Morley.>>

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_Los Angeles Times_, 31 Oct. 1904: p. 11:

<<[title:] PERCY'S HOSE WIN THE GAME. / POLICE PITCHER PUTS JINKS ON THE
FIREMEN. / .... / Police, 13; Firemen, 4. / .... / Percy Held wore a pair
of lady's stockings out to the ball game at the Chutes grounds yesterday
afternoon, and as a result the Firemen never had a chance to win after he
commenced to pitch.>>

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_Los Angeles Times_, 6 Nov. 1904: p. B2:

<<[title:] THREE-RING CIRCUS NOW. / .... / Truck Eagan's Arm Broken by
Frank Chance. / .... / This doubtless had a bad effect on the Tigers, for
it necessitated the switching around of players, and this kind of business
always puts a jinks on them. It did not apparently hurt much yesterday, but
the moral influence of such an accident often goes a long ways toward
standing men on their figurative heads, and the Tigers didn't seem to have
their usual head of steam after Truck was put away.>>

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_New York Times_, 17 March 1910: p. 10:

<<Otis Johnson, the long-expected third baseman, arrived from Portland
to-day in time to put the "jinks" on the Yankee Yannigans.>>

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-- Doug Wilson



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