baseball cursing, 1898

[Jonathan Lighter]

The language is almost certainly authentic for the period, but I strongly suspect that the document itself was intended as a joke (rather than a "hoax"). No names of "committee members" are given and the document may well be a sub rosa publication.

  The unexpected (and for most people unprecedented) appearance of such lurid insults in cold print would, I feel sure, have been regarded as uproariously funny by many young men of the era - ballplayers included.

  JL

  George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: George Thompson
Subject: Re: baseball cursing, 1898
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This document has been posted to the 19th Century Baseball listserv, run by SABR (Society for American Baseball Research). The debate is on-going as to whether it is an authentic production of the men who ran Organized Baseball then, or a hoax. In general, there seems to be agreement that baseball of that era was unusually violent and rowdy, and it is not unlikely that such language would be used on the field.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Benjamin Zimmer
Date: Monday, December 3, 2007 12:45 am
Subject: baseball cursing, 1898
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU


> Languagehat and Metafilter report on an extremely interesting 1898
> document held by Robert Edward Auctions, outlining an anti-cursing
> policy for baseball. It is entitled "Special Instructions To Players"
> and warns against "the use of obscene language by players at the
> ballpark, to intimidate umpires and opposing players, and to verbally
> battle with unfriendly fans." It is marked "unmailable" because of the
> examples of obscenities included.
>
> Robert Edwards Auction blog post:
> http://s210975194.onlinehome.us/blog/?p=41
> Image:
> http://s210975194.onlinehome.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/05567.JPG
>
> Languagehat:
> http://www.languagehat.com/archives/002957.php
> Metafilter:
> http://www.metafilter.com/67096/1898-baseball-cursing-policy-amply-illustrated
>
> I'll leave it to the experts to tally up the antedatings.
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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