walk-offs before "walk off"

[Joel S. Berson]

The Yankees beat the Red Sox Sunday on a game-ending (perhaps this
was/is an alternate to "game-winning"?) wild pitch.  It has been
called a "walk-off".  Many times.

I suppose a "game-*winning* wild pitch" would be an oxymoron.  The
pitcher does not win the game.

Joel

At 9/9/2013 04:51 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 4:39 PM, Geoffrey Nunberg wrote:
> >
> > Was there a term for walk-offs before "walk off"? If not, it mystifies
> > me that baseball took a century and a half to come up with this.
>
>I believe a walk-off (hit/single/HR/etc.) would most often have been
>called a "game-winning" (hit/single/HR/etc.). MLB confused matters in
>the '80s by creating the statistical category of "game-winning RBI,"
>which, as Wikipedia advises, "was credited to the batter whose at-bat
>was responsible for bringing his team ahead for the final time in the
>game." But in common parlance I'm pretty sure a "game winner"
>typically occurred at the end of a game. In the official rulebook,
>they talk about "game-ending hits."
>
>--bgz
>
>--
>Ben Zimmer
>http://benzimmer.com/
>
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