[Ads-l] taxi squad (1958)

[Laurence Horn]

Hah.  My own personal etymythology was that the taxi squad consisted of reserve players who lived in hailing distance and who would be contacted if needed (because of injuries to the regulars and/or first backups) and would then taxi to the stadium to join the team.  Go know.

LH

> On Mar 26, 2021, at 11:39 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> OED3 (Dec. 2019 update) has "taxi squad" from 1959.
> 
> ---
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74316430/taxi-squad/
> New York Daily News, Nov. 25, 1958, p. 27C, col. 1
> "Inside Sports" by Gene Ward
> If you happened to glimpse four husky characters sitting on the Giant bench
> in street clothes last Sunday, and wondered what they were doing out of
> uniform, here's your answer. The sports-coated stalwarts you saw were two
> quarterbacks, a fullback and a tackle -- all members of the Mara "taxi
> squad."
> ...
> The term "taxi squad" stems from the days when Mickey McBride, who operated
> a fleet of cabs in Cleveland, among other things, was owner of the Browns.
> On the theory that Mickey was paying his insurance players out of the
> proceeds from cab collections, the Browns hidden talent joshingly became
> known as the "taxi squad."
> ---
> 
> --bgz
> 
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