play pepper

Tue Apr 19 23:10:35 UTC 2011

Episode 4 of Ken Burns' Baseball, covering the 1920s, has a clip of the
"House of David" baseball team doing their "pepper game". Picture the Harlem
Globetrotters white, bearded, in baseball uniforms, and using a baseball to
do their tricks.

You can see some of it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtBsqPxPEnk

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtBsqPxPEnk>DanG

On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 12:07 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: play pepper
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There is pepper, the practice game, and there is pepper, a behavior on the
> field.
>
> I was in Europe when Ken Burns' Baseball documentary series came out, so I
> am watching it now for the first time. There is a clip of a first base
> coac=
> h
> dancing for joy while a hit goes through past the second baseman to score a
> run. That's pepper. So is yelling "no batter, no batter, no batter".
>
> DanG
>
> On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 8:27 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrot=
> e:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: play pepper
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > [Final post that I promised earlier. Please note that several comments
> > have appeared since I initially started working on this post. I
> > decided not to change the first third of the post as it does not
> > really contradict anything else that's been posted. Also, the
> > newspaper citations at the end are certainly not exhaustive--it
> > appears some newspapers used references to players' "pepper" quite
> > frequently, while others made no such references at all.]
> >
> > Since the commentators were admiring Gonzales's offensive prowess, I
> > presume that the comment indeed was intended to suggest that he would
> > hit a lot of doubles off the wall. I doubt he meant anything in
> > relation to home runs, since those usually don't bounce back.
> >
> > Now, OED does have the respective entry, although only one of the
> > quotations mentions playing ball--the rest are pepper game(s) and
> > pepper drill.
> >
> > > 7. Baseball. A training exercise or warm-up in which a batter hits a
> ba=
> ll
> > pitched at close range by one of a number of other players, one of whom
> > fields the ball and quickly pitches again to the batter. Orig. and
> chiefl=
> y
> > attrib., esp. in pepper game.
> >
> > Note that this comment--and, I am sure, most others (including
> > WIki)--associate the game/drill only with baseball. This is so much so
> > that the drill is enshrined in the official MLB Baseball Lingo (no, I
> > am not kidding-- http://goo.gl/dMNcI ). Still even the first page of
> > hits for "play pepper with" search has a few linking the drill to
> > volleyball. So far, I have not noticed any other sports associated
> > with it, but this is already broader than the "original". I should
> > also note that the OED quotations start from 1914.
> >
> > A few interesting pickups /after/ 1914.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/19DdI
> > LIFE. Vol. 36, No. 13
> > Mar 29, 1954
> > Teasing Willie. p. 83
> > >  Giants' outfielder laughs last at teammates in pepper game. "Pepper"
> i=
> n
> > baseball is a pregame limbering-up exercise in which a batter hits balls
> =
> to
> > a group of fielders
> >
> > http://goo.gl/bck3M
> > Baseball Digest. Vol. 54, No. 11
> > Nov 1995
> > Think you know baseball? p. 54
> > > Every movement you make in a pepper game, you will use during a game
> >
> > Just Play Ball. By Joe Garagiola. 2009
> > p. 159
> > > The Gas House Gang had a version of the pepper game that rivaled
> anythi=
> ng
> > the Harlem Globetrotters did with a basketball.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/Rd7AG
> > The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer's Inside View. Doug Glanville.
> > 2010
> > p. 28
> > >  Despite our reputation for =E2=80=9Cspit first, ask questions later,=
> =E2=80=9D this
> > pepper game of personality spiced our pregame stretching.
> >
> >
> >
> > But I want to return to 1914. Is the "pepper game" related to a
> > "display of pepper"? Looking around the 1900-1915 citations that
> > involve pepper and baseball, virtually all refer to "pepper" as an
> > essential ingredient to a good baseball game, an intractable,
> > aggressive quality that makes teams--and each player--win.
> >
> > Consider the next three citations.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/exVTg
> > Outing Magazine. Volume 62:2. May 1913
> > Building a Winning Baseball Team. By Clarke C. Griffith. p. 133
> > > "Why then did you keep Schaefer?" some keen fan may ask. Schaeter was
> > kept because he is one of the best coachers in baseball. He's pretty old,
> > but he's our pepper-box. I wanted him to put spice into the youngsters.
> > That's all I keep him for now. He's the best pepper man in baseball, a
> bi=
> g
> > asset to any team.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/tCjBk
> > The American Magazine. Volume 76:2. August 1913
> > The Making of a Big Leaguer: The Story of One of the Great Ball
> > Players of the Country as Told by Himself to Hugh S. Fullerton. p.
> > 40/1
> > > Some of the writers watching me in the spring accuse me of loafing and
> =
> of
> > having lost my "pepper."
> >
> > http://goo.gl/DWcsp
> > How to play baseball: a manual for boys. By John Joseph McGraw. 1914
> > p. 14
> > > A catcher must have plenty of pepper because he is expected to keep the
> > rest of the club on its toes and encourage the other players.
> > p. 139
> > > Keep after the players all the time. Encourage them and insist that
> the=
> y
> > keep constantly on their toes. Make them show plenty of pepper and spirit
> > and aggression. This carries a long way. Never let the other side see you
> > are beaten or are losing courage.
> > p. 141
> > >  If a runner is retired at first and there are no others on the bases,
> > pass the ball around the infield with a display of pepper that would look
> > like a show of confidence on a moving-picture film. It impresses the
> othe=
> r
> > team, and, besides, keeps the infielders, who may have been idle for some
> > time, livened up and warmed to their work. But always be careful not to
> > throw the ball around if there is a man on base, when a wild heave would
> =
> be
> > detrimental to your club.
> >
> >
> > A similar citation shows up under pepper II. 4.b.:
> >
> > > 1913    Bulletin (San Francisco) 19 Mar. 17/2   Del Howard has put a
> lo=
> t
> > of life and pepper into the Seal herd,=E2=80=A5with some additional help
> =
> behind the
> > bat and in the box.
> >
> > [ It is surrounded by two citations that I suspect belong elsewhere
> > and a bunch of others that make use of the phrase "full of pepper",
> > which is not exactly the same as the one in baseball context.
> >
> > The one preceding it seems to imply that an animal would be "peppered"
> > with shot:
> >
> > > 1869    Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 468   By loading it with slugs=E2=
> =80=A5he
> > should be able to give the =E2=80=98varmint=E2=80=99 pepper.
> >
> > The one following belongs under 4.c. ("rough treatment"):
> >
> > > 1966    C. Achebe Man of People vii. 81   If you insult me again I will
> > show you pepper. ]
> >
> > But there is a significant difference between the phrase "full of
> > pepper"--which displays something similar to "having spunk",
> > enthusiasm or anger, temper--and the baseball use that is closer to
> > "display of skills" and aggressiveness--which is not to say that the
> > two are not related. Ty Cobb used the phrase twice in his book and at
> > least one was clearly unrelated to baseball skills.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/YCVV5
> > Busting 'em: and other big league stories. By Ty Cobb. 1914
> > p. 26
> > > The crowd makes the ball game. How much pepper, how much enthusiasm,
> an=
> d
> > how much baseball do you suppose a player would show if games were
> played=
>  to
> > empty seats?
> > p. 275
> > > A newspaper friend of mine came to Augusta last fall to pay me a visit
> > and to do a little hunting with me. He had been accustomed to the Big
> Tow=
> n
> > and was used to having lunch. The first day that I told him I hoped he
> di=
> d
> > not count on lunch, because none was served in my house, he looked kind
> o=
> f
> > downcast, and I took him downtown to a restaurant, where he tackled
> enoug=
> h
> > food to do me for a dinner. It was not three or four days, though,
> before=
>  he
> > had become used to only two meals, and he developed twice as much pepper
> =
> on
> > the diet as he had displayed when he first arrived. ... As a matter of
> fa=
> ct,
> > I don't see how any man, who is confined to an office for eight or nine
> > hours each day, and who gets very little exercise, can expect to eat
> thre=
> e
> > meals and show any pepper.
> >
> >
> > Here's another, with full context.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/CdL6R
> > The big league. By Charles Emmett Van Loan. 1911
> > p. 108
> > > After they had signed the man, their first step was carefully to
> > eradicate from his mind any lingering suspicion that he knew how baseball
> > should be played. His first duty was to play baseball as the Gamecocks
> > played it, tricky, intricate, and up to the very last tick of the watch.
> > > They drilled signals into his head; they hammered their brand of
> baseba=
> ll
> > into him on the field and off, and even on the trains, when traveling
> aro=
> und
> > the circuit, they plotted new plays. Many a baseball trick of the present
> > day was born in the smoking room of a Pullman when the Gamecocks were on
> =
> the
> > wing, and first saw the light when those resourceful young men had need
> o=
> f
> > something absolutely new with which to annoy the opposition.
> > > Into this remarkable coalition of brains, pepper, and vinegar, came
> you=
> ng
> > Joe Corbin, a quiet, studious youth, addicted to a jump ball and a strict
> > observance of his religious faith.
> >
> > And a few more, from the same general period.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/MxdfW
> > Michigansean. A Yearbook for 1909
> > > After a year's absence, Lew McAllister was re-engaged to coach the
> > varsity, and his return was marked by the most remarkable display of
> "lif=
> e"
> > and "pepper" ever evident in a Michigan baseball aggregation.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/re9k1
> > San Joaquin Light and Power Magazine. Volume 1:4. April 1913
> > News Around the Loop. p. 168/2
> > > Porter Simpson and Carl Stockholm will show pepper all right when it
> > comes to carrying a baseball bat instead of the mail.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/3Urnl
> > The Manhattan Quarterly. Volume 9. 1913
> > [Snippet only. Issue and exact page unknown]. p. 362
> > > Last year he was the pepper of the Newark infield, playing one of the
> > best games in his career at the third base position.
> >
> >
> >
> > I also came across several pieces that show meaning not directly
> > covered under OED's II. 4.b.
> >
> > >  b. In other allusive and proverbial contexts, chiefly with reference
> t=
> o
> > the biting, pungent, inflaming, or stimulating qualities of pepper.
> >
> > The items I found included "pepper-mad" (http://goo.gl/YhbVg ), "they
> > called him Pepper on account of his temper" (http://goo.gl/OJp1A ). I
> > suppose, one could say these fall under "inflaming". Also note the
> > comment above about the two extraneous citations under 4.b. The
> > "anger" meaning (both to be angry and to make angry) are covered under
> > pepper v., as is "to spray with small missiles", such as shot.
> > Pepper-box is occasionally used in the same sense as "powder-box",
> > meaning explosive, intemperate, but it's also a small target in some
> > games (notably the Eton game--likely because of the relatively small
> > size of the hole into which the ball is to be dropped) and is part of
> > the 1890s tennis terminology (in this case, likely related to being
> > "peppered" with tennis balls).
> >
> > I initially thought that the "pepper game" might be related to the
> > "missile" meaning--that is, the balls are being peppered, sprayed
> > among the players. I found no evidence to confirm this initial
> > assumption. But looking carefully at the timing of the early use in
> > baseball, I now suspect that the "pepper game" actually developed from
> > the "enthusiasm" sense of pepper--and not so much from playing pepper
> > as a pre-game drill, which is the more contemporary meaning, as
> > tossing the ball around the infield /during/ the game, to show being
> > involved, being active, aggressive.
> >
> > It's a speculation, of course, and an analysis of /newspaper/ stories
> > might prove otherwise, as I've developed this theory looking only at
> > GB, which is to say, books and magazines.
> >
> > But a couple of NYTimes articles from 1914 do follow the same pattern.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/pVHgh
> > NYT March 28, 1914
> > Yankee Nine Routed. p. 11
> > > The New Yorkers did not have much of the so-called pepper, which was no
> > doubt due to the fact that the players were tired out from the riding,
> be=
> ing
> > on the sleepers since last Sunday night.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/nbhx3
> > NYT March 24, 1914
> > Keating Shows Fine Form. p. 7
> > > It was a fine day for baseball, and one which put a great deal of
> > "pepper" in the pitchers.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/U0sqy
> > New York Times - Mar 6, 1914
> > INFIELDER FLETCHER BREAKS A FINGER. p. 9
> > > On the other hand the youngsters fielded cleanly and with much pepper.
> >
> > WELCOME OUR CITY
> > Pay-Per-View - The Sun - ProQuest Archiver - May 14, 1914
> > Meyer is as full of "pepper" as ever and is playing a corking all-around
> > game.
> >
> > http://goo.gl/pGS1T
> > Pittsburgh Press. Aug 4, 1914
> > Pirates and Braves Open a Four-Game Series in Boston. p. 24/1[Press
> > Sporting Edition]
> > > It sometimes takes a little break in luck to put some confidence back
> > into a player after he has been going badly. The hit of Koney's yesterday
> > was a game winner and may restore the old pepper to the famous baseman.
> >
> >
> > About the only exception I found was here. (And a few pay-per-view
> > cites where preview text was insufficient.)
> >
> > http://goo.gl/JYdfU
> > Pittsburgh Gazette Times. Apr 15, 1914
> > Brooklyn Shuts Out Rebs In Opening Game. p. 10/2
> > > The local club spilled plenty of pepper. They fought for every point.
> >
> > But even here, the reference is to a sort of "pepper content",
> > something that implies a player may be "full of pepper" for the game.
> > In this sense, was the "pepper game" so called because it
> > gave/increased/restore pepper to players before the game?
> >
> >
> > VS-)
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 11:32 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Pepper is normally a drill where a batter hits ground balls at
> fielders=
> ,
> > who
> > > catch and throw the ball quickly back to the batter, who hits another
> > ground
> > > ball, etc.
> > >
> > > I don't know how you play pepper with a wall -- perhaps you throw the
> > ball
> > > against the wall and field it, and throw and field, etc.
> > >
> > > DanG
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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