Antedating of "Guard" (Basketball)

[Joel S. Berson]

Fred, are you sure this isn't (Pittsfield) baseball, with the usual
nine-man team?  The "goal" is home plate and the "home man" is the
center-fielder, whose responsibility is to prevent "homers"?  Or
perhaps the reverse -- the "goal" is to hit the ball out of the park,
the "goal keeper" is supposed to defend against that, and the "home
man", at the opposite end, corresponds to today's catcher?

Or perhaps it's a description of 9-man association football?

Eighteen men the size of Shaq O'Neal or LeBron James on a basketball
court?  No way!

:-)
Joel

At 5/11/2013 06:12 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>guard (OED, 7.d. [Basketball], 1897)
>
>
>
>1892 James Naismith in _Triangle_ (Springfield College newspaper)
>Jan. 7 (Springfield College digital archives)  It has been found
>advantageous to have a goal keeper, two guards, three center men,
>two wings, and a home man stationed in the above order from the goal.
>
>
>
>Fred Shapiro
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org