Bill Klem Quote

[Dan Goncharoff]

Another Klem line:

"And when I call it, there's nothing to argue about"

can be found in the NYTimes, Sports of the Times by John Kieran, July 18, 1934

This was a couple of weeks after Klem DID miss a call of the
infield-fly rule, and was overturned by the league.

On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 2:42 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Bill Klem Quote
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In The Yale Book of Quotations, I cite a 1948 source for attribution to Charlie Moran.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of victor steinbok [aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Friday, May 27, 2011 8:49 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Bill Klem Quote
>
> I got a second proximate source to back up the Charlie Moran theory--Mass.
> Historical Society, supposedly from 1952.
>
> http://goo.gl/stmDG
>
> VS-)
>
> On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 8:44 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> I don't have an antedating of "It ain't nothin'..." quote, but I do have an
>> early alternative attribution.
>>
>> Several 1949 obits for umpire Charles B. "Uncle Charlie" Moran attribute
>> the line to him in this form: "It ain't nothing until I call it."
>>
>> http://goo.gl/WAh7Z
>>
>> Boston Daily Globe had a similar obit with a similar attribution (on the
>> same day).
>>
>> It's not a mere attribution--"he was noted for his famous expression".
>>
>> How quickly they forget!
>>
>> I don't see any reason to take this attribution lightly. The Klem stories
>> even differ on the kind of call that he supposedly made when barking that
>> line--was it a ball or a strike? was it fair or foul? was he on the
>> third-base line or at home plate?
>>
>> VS-)
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:29 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> You're right, Jon.  I should actually read posts before I respond to them.
>>>
>>> The quote I was thinking of was "It ain't nothing till I call it."  The
>>> quote Jon was posting about, "I calls 'em as I sees 'em," seems not to be
>>> included in Paul Dickson's Baseball's Greatest Quotations, although Dickson
>>> has a section of front matter titled "I Call 'Em As I See 'Em."
>>>
>>> In addition to finding earlier evidence than 1948 for "It ain't nothing
>>> till I call it," perhaps Garson or Sam or Bill or Stephen or Ben or someone
>>> else can find early evidence for "I call 'em as I see 'em."  The earliest
>>> version I find in a quick ProQuest search is 1933 in the Boston Globe, where
>>> Klem is quoted denying that he called them as he saw them.
>>>
>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>
>>
>
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