game ball

Sun Sep 18 08:02:00 UTC 2011

Wow! Apparently the idea of a "game ball" is so intrinsically American that
the OED wants nothing to do with it (I'm just kidding, of course). Still, if
you look it up, this is all that you will find:

game ball n. and adj. (Tennis)  (a) n. the position in which one side
> requires a single point in order to win;  (b) pred. adj. (Anglo-Irish
> slang), excellent, fine.
> 1893    Westm. Gaz. 26 Apr. 5/3   Here he was unfortunate, losing by a
> ‘let’ when the game stood at *gameball--10.
> 1916    J. Joyce Portrait of Artist iii. 119   That's game ball. We can
> scut the whole hour.
> 1922    J. Joyce Ulysses ii. 218   That'll do, game ball, Blazes Boylan
> said.

This is not what meant by "game ball" in American football, and,
occasionally in basketball or baseball too (and presumably in other ball
sports) at any team level (school, college or pro). (It's even possible that
basketball had the tradition first. For some reason football kept it and
basketball didn't.) It's actually quite irrelevant, as TV commentators use
it metaphorically to signify that MVP of a game anyway, even if there is no
real "game ball"--sometimes when it's a sport with no balls.

And here's how MWOL treats it:

game ball (1966)
> a ball (as a football) presented to a player or coach in recognition of an
> outstanding contribution to a team victory

Still has some issues--it need not go to player or coach, although those are
the most common "awards"--but it gets the message right. (occasional game
balls go to fans, inspirational characters, team owners, team physicians,
etc.)

Farlex only gets one version to match any of the above, although it expands
on it:

game-ball
> adj Irish
> 1. (of a person) in perfect health
> 2. (of an arrangement, plan, etc.) excellent

SportsDefinitions.com matches the OED (a) definition, except that it applies
it to squash rather than tennis. And doesn't tennis now use "game point"
rather than "game ball"?

Obviously there are later mentions of "game ball" in this sense, but
tracking them down in print is hard (I probably heard more of them watching
TV over the past three years than I found today searching through old news).
This is one of the rare ones that I did find (NYT paywall, I'm afraid, so
someone else will have to take it from here).

MOORE CAPTURES JUNIOR CUE TITLE; Wins National Pocket...
$3.95 - New York Times - Jan 1, 1933

> He didn't need a break .and had perfect position for his game ball. With
> only one ball on the table, however, they had to be racked before the shot
> and ...

This is not the same as tennis, but very similar. A.k.a. "money ball" or
"frame ball", depending on the game.

Sticking with games of this kind, there is antedating of "game ball" as the
last ball to be won to win the game.

There is a bunch of GB hits between 1872 and 1890. And, in most cases, it
refers to the score more than to the actual ball.

The game here is the same as one that's identified as "the Rugby Game as
Played at WInchester" in the Encyclopedia of sports and games (1911)
http://goo.gl/FET63  (1897) http://goo.gl/OHx9G or other editions.
The games seems to resemble handball. It also resembles Fives (a.k.a. hand
tennis--another precursor to handball and squash) as found in The Wykehamist
for March 1867 [ http://goo.gl/CFbYb ] The latter also antedates "let" n.1
2. (1871-->1867). The game-ball in Fives and Rackets also comes up in the
Popular Educator (1852?) http://goo.gl/5VFea

Somehow "game ball" ended up in cricket--in the Sporting Magazine for 1839.
This might have been an accident except that there are multiple mentions in
the same volume. http://goo.gl/DcGDU

The first two use it in scoring or game flow--"till the 'game-ball' was
called". The last one actually mentions the game ball being struck. So now
we have for that particular definition, 1893--1839, although there are some
variations in the sense.

There is also the more fundamental meaning of "game ball" of just being a
ball that happens to be in play (as opposed to, I suppose, a "spare
ball"--or a "practice ball").

http://goo.gl/0XRKu
Rose Queen Meets Coaches. Modesto Bee. Dec. 28, 1960. B-7/1 [long caption to
AP photo]

> Queen Carole Washburn of the Tournament of Roses holds a game ball as she
> gets together with the coaches who will tangle in the Rose Bowl Monday. ...

Clearly, this is not /the/ game ball, since the game has not been played
yet. Or is this the ball that's already been set aside to become /the/ game
ball? If that's not enough, here's another one from the same period:

http://goo.gl/iBpo4
Ottawa Citizen - Dec 16, 1960.
>
> Ottawa Roughriders returned the Grey Cup East with a 15-5 victory over
> Edmonton Eskimos in a dull defensive game that never finished. With 41
> seconds remaining, fans poured onto the field and a youngster capped the
> demonstration by swiping the game ball.

And basketball too:

 http://goo.gl/ebpbb
Tourney Notes. By Bill Scott. St. Joseph News-Press - Mar 22, 1960. p. 12/2

> The two team in the opener played the first few minutes with a practice
> ball. Somebody forgot to bring the *game ball* over to the Auditorium.

http://goo.gl/dm1p8
Who Smacked Whom? That is the Question. Milwaukee Journal - Jan 18, 1949. p.
L-6/6-7

> Both [University of Kansas coach F. C. "Phog"] Allen and [game referee
> Eddie] Davidson agreed:
> 1. That Davidson was struck in the face with a basketball, but argued about
> whether it was the *game ball* or a ball thrown from the Kansas bench;
> 2. That Davidson attempted to punch Allen;
> 3. That Kansas won the ball game, 46-41.

And baseball:

http://goo.gl/VbAjk
4500 Fans Watch Spokane Opener. Spokesman-Review - Apr 23, 1952. p. 1/5

> All but two persons who set foot on the playing field received applause.
> Umpires George Behringer and Russ Kimpel were greeted with a chorus of boos
> when they tossed out the game ball and pitchers' rosin bag.

Likely the most famous "game ball" was the one that was /not/ involved in
the game brawl between the LA Rams and the Chicago Bears on November 16,
1947. Bears Jack Matheson punched the Rams equipment boy to get to what he
thought was the game ball. He was then flattened by the Rams coach. Matheson
got suspended for the next game and the league fine five other players $50.
Apparently, it was a huge national story.

http://goo.gl/AAKV3
Jaw Injury Not Serious. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Nov 18, 1947. Section 2,
p. 14/3

> "I came to the boiling point," said [Rams Coach Bob] Snyder, "when I saw
> this guy, Matheson, 228 pounds, hit our clubhouse boy, Buddy Leininger, who
> weighs 98 pounds, soaking wet, when the kid wouldn't give him a ball after
> the game.

"It wasn't the game ball--referee had that. This was a practice ball. When
> Matheson followed me into tour dressing room, I let him have it."
> "It," witnesses agree, was a solid right that sent Matheson reeling out the
> door and into the Bears' quarters.
> Asked if the Bears finally got the game ball, Snyder replied: "I don't
> think they did."

In any case, 1966 seems to be a completely random date that MW people picked
out of a hat, as there are plenty of news articles from 1950-64 (and
earlier) that mention the game ball being awarded in both pro and college
football games and basketball games to players and coaches (Vince Lombardi
got at least one--in January 1961).

Cubs Roll on
Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - Jun 4, 1961. p. 24/3

> Who else should have had the game ball?

Since this is behind a paywall, I can't verify it and it is possible that
this was a composite day's sports review and this comment is not actually
about the Cubs. But it's not football, as the article is from June. And
March must mean basketball, right?

http://goo.gl/YPxCL
The Nashua, NH, Telegraph - Mar 8, 1960. p. 8/3

> NHS captain Jerry Fuller is armed with the championship plaque, Coach Tony
> Marandos fondly hugs the game ball; and the squad receives congratulations
> from Governor Wesley Powell after the Purple successfully defended its state
> title by defeating Portsmouth 56-51 last night in Durham.

It's actually quite odd, but college basketball and football stories
dominate the search pattern for 1958. But professional football is also
mentioned (George Halas). And there is more pro football stories again in
1957.

In 1949-50, most game balls in the news stories did not go to players or
coaches, but to family members (e.g., twins born earlier to one of the
players), retired or injured players, and others. But in 1948-9, game balls
were being inscribed and awarded to winning /teams/ in traditional rivalries
in both high-school and college football and basketball. In football, that
meant that the ball may well be presented to the winning team captain(s) by
the homecoming queen and it was the actual game ball, saved for the occasion
(rather than for the next game). Is it possible that the game-ball tradition
might have been started at something like the Army-Navy game or either of
those two and Notre Dame? It would seem to be a perfect fit.

There is a fairly short record in GNA prior to 1946, so one of the earliest
"game ball" citation I found is April 17, 1946--oddly enough, from a
baseball game.

http://goo.gl/ZOebu
Chief Fails as Prophet, Shines as Southpaw. By Ernest Barcella [UP]. Miami
Daily News. April 17, 1946. p. 9-B/4

> President Truman proved himself a good pitcher but a poor prophet as the
> Red Sox slugged out a 6-to-3 victory over the Senators in the inaugural game
> of the 1946 season before a full house of 30, 372 fans.
> ...
> Awarded Game Ball
> More like a veteran than a rookie he stretched his left arm three times and
> then cut loose with his best pitch--a high hard one that went for a perfect
> strike. The coveted presidential pitch was caught by Boston Utility
> Infielder Andy Gilbert. Mr. Truman went home with a ball, too. After
> Washington's Roger Wolff made the first legal pitch of the game, Umpire Bill
> Summers called time and walked to the presidential box with the ball.

Note, further, that the two meanings of "game ball" that I was tracing above
converge here, as Truman is awarded the honorary game ball, but he gets the
actual ball from the game before the game is over.

http://goo.gl/1wmLc
Two Long Runs Give Steelers Win, 17 To 9. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Nov 2,
1942. p. 20/4

> During the intermission a war bond sale was conducted from the center of
> the gridiron with the game ball going to the highest bidder in an auction.

This is again the game ball becoming the award before the end of the game.

The following is the terminal "game ball" citation in GNA (other than the
billiards one posted above).

Notre-Dame Shorts. News-Sentinel - Jan 20, 1936

> At the recent testimonial dinner to the Notre Dame football team and
> coaches, Elmer Layden was presented with a silk hat, the first monthly award
> of Judge Jr., author of 'High Hat" in Judge magazine. Judge Jr. awarded the
> silk topper to Layden for giving the Army game ball to Capt. Bill Shuler of
> Army after the team had tied 6 to 6 and Bill Shakespeare, Notre Dame's
> acting caption, had won the ball on the flip of a coin.

Wiki claims that the traditional women's basketball game between Bryn Mawr
School and St. Timothy's School also involved the presentation of the game
ball to the winners. It is not clear when that particular tradition started
or if they referred to the "game ball", but the award ended during WWII.
There can be little doubt that other traditional rivalries had similar game
ball presentations from the early days of the sport (both basketball and
football). It is interesting, however, that there appears to be a shortage
of stories that mention game ball presentation prior to 1936. So the
language might have changed along the way.

VS-)

PS: This one is for AZ's benefit--it occurred to me to look it up when it
was mentioned on Psych.

PPS: Speaking of Psych--does anyone else use "Yago" as a substitute for
"Judas"?

PPPS: One more sense of "game ball" is more recent--it refers to the
officially sanctioned ball type for FIFA tournaments, such as the World Cup
(e.g., Jabulani for the 2010 World Cup and a modified Jabulani for 2011
Women's World Cup).

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