"in the clutch (baseball)--query

[Jonathan Lighter]

"In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced or cried aloud."
                                   --- W. E. Henley, "Invictus."

Most '30s sportswriters should have been familiar with these lines from school.

Just another SWAG.

JL

"Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Douglas G. Wilson"
Subject: Re: "in the clutch (baseball)--query
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>I checked Dickson's baseball dictionary, which gives 1937 as the first
>use, and adds: "The origin of the term ["clutch"] is suggested in the
>1954 _Gillette World Series Record Book_ (edited by Hy Turkin): 'When a
>clutch is engaged in any machinery, parts are made to move, and any defect
>in the clutch will cause faulty operation or danger. ...Extended use: A
>key situation in any endeavor."
>
> Is there anything to add to this?

At a casual glance, I think the above explanation is grotesquely
implausible ... unless there's good evidence.

The natural assumption IMHO is that "clutch [situation]" reflects something
like "clutching one's seat" (cf. "white-knuckle"). Of course this notion
may be false too, and one still would like some textual evidence.

-- Doug Wilson


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