play pepper

[victor steinbok]

In my sheltered existence, I've never heard the expression or been
aware of the underlying ball drill. So, when I heard a comment during
the Yankees-Red Sox broadcast (ESPN) that Adrian Gonzales will "play
pepper with the Green Monster", my ears perked up. My understanding is
that "playing pepper" is mostly associated with baseball and
volleyball drills that involve continuously distributing the balls
between players. I am assuming that there was some game that involved
tossing a hot-pepper prop (or a pretend-hot-pepper), at some
point--sort of a version of "hot potato", but what's the idea with
Gonzales? Is the implication that he will bounce a lot of doubles off
the wall?

VS-)

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