"Tom Brown" as an 1896 baseball term

[Wilson Gray]

On Jun 23, 2005, at 4:38 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Tom Brown" as an 1896 baseball term
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>> Thanks for the suggestion. But what went on in _Tom Brown's
>> Schooldays_ that would be relevant to an unsuccessfully batted ball?
>>
>> Gerald Cohen
>
> Beats me; I've never read it.  That's why I was idly speculating.
> Can anyone confirm or disconfirm my guess?
>
> L
>

As I recall, from ca. 1948, Tom went to the Rugby Public School, where
he eventually grew a beard. Could it refer to the wearing of beards by
baseball players? Or perhaps the reference is to the scrum-like coming
together of the players as they prepare to deal with the hit ball.

-Wilson Gray

>>
>>>  ----------
>>>  From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of Laurence Horn
>>>  Sent:         Thursday, June 23, 2005 3:20 PM
>>>  To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>  Subject:           Re: "Tom Brown" as an 1896 baseball term
>>>
>>         <snip>
>>>  Could there be an allusion here to the Tom Brown of _Tom Brown's
>>> Schooldays_, despite the Victorian England provenance of that book,
>>> which would certainly have been well known in the U.S. as well as
>>> Britain at that time?  Just a thought.
>>>
>>>  Larry
>>>
>>>
>