[Ads-l] Antedating of "Grand Slam" (Tennis/Golf Sense)

[Ben Zimmer]

On Sun, Jan 24, 2016 at 7:25 AM, Fred Shapiro wrote:
>
> The OED's first use for "grand slam" sense 1.c. (winning all the major
> championships in a calendar year, particularly in tennis or golf) is dated
> 1948.  Wikipedia cites an earlier usage:
>
> Gould, Alan (18 July 1933). 'Sports Slants: {subsection} Tennis "Grand Slam"
> https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19330718&id=c3gzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DeIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2327,2495314
> The Reading Eagle (Reading, PA). p. 10

This item refers to Jack Crawford's attempt to win the tennis "grand
slam" (he failed to win the US Open). Michael Quinion cites an AP
report about Crawford from a bit later in 1933, and he also provides a
cite about Bobby Jones completing the golf "grand slam" in 1930.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-gra7.htm

I relied on Michael's fine research in writing my WSJ column about
"grand slam" last year:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-grand-slams-conquered-the-sports-world-1434115946

--bgz

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