play pepper

[Victor Steinbok]

Excellent find on the "pepper game" in a story about Satchel Paige. But
I also found references to "pepper" in Ty Cobb's book and they actually
had nothing to do with baseball! My initial guess was very similar--that
"peppering" the balls might have had a relation to usage of "pepper" as
a verb for spreading/spraying small missiles, e.g., shot. However, I
found no evidence for this lineage whatsoever.

Relying on GB has its drawbacks and much more needs to be checked with
in newspaper databases (e.g., searching for "pepper+baseball") in order
to get a complete picture. But my preliminary interpretation goes in a
different direction.

     VS-)

On 4/11/2011 10:35 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> victor steinbok wrote
>> I've been trying to put together a long post on this, particularly on
>> the 1914 bit. But it's taking more time than I expected.
> I look forward to seeing the post.  I do think it is unlikely that
> term "pepper game" in the context of a robbery (mentioned on the other
> thread) is connected to the baseball usage.
>
> Here is an idea for how the term "pepper game" may have arisen in baseball.
>
> The word pepper can be associated with repeatedly hitting the ball.
> For example, "pepper the ball" in the citation below means achieving a
> series of hits.
>
> Cite: 1910 March 3, Giant Regulars Trim the Yaps, Page 10, New London,
> Connecticut. (Google News archive)
>
> Chief Meyers continued as catcher, and this bunch of misfits began to
> pepper the ball. They tied the score in the seventh inning and then
> won out.
>
>
> In the following cite "peppering" refers to a series of hits. Possibly
> "pepper game" emerged from the sense associated with these types of
> uses.
>
> Cite: 1910 July 09, New York Times, Yankees Pile Up Thirteen Tallies,
> Page 9, New York. (ProQuest)
>
> The Yankees  gave  the Chicago White Sox a ferocious flaying on the
> Hilltop yesterday, peppering Jim Scott and "Young Cy " Young with
> savage drives, slamming the ball against the  fence  and galloping
> around the  bases so often that they were ready to from exhaustion.
>
>
> OED has a first cite in 1914 for "pepper game". Here is baseball great
> Satchel Paige playing a pepper game in 1913.
>
> Cite: 1913 August 13, Lewiston Evening Journal,  Satchel Paige Termed
> World's Greatest Chucker, Page 6, Lewiston, Maine. (Google News
> archive)
>
> The Negro ace is never quiet when he is around the diamond. Long
> before the game started he was out tossing a ball around and then he
> engaged in a "pepper game" for at least half-an-hour, instigating the
> thing and remaining out there long after the others had had their
> fill.

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