[Ads-l] Antedating of "Infield" (Baseball)

[Ben Zimmer]

On Sun, Aug 7, 2022 at 8:34 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> The OED's first use for "infield" meaning a portion of the baseball field
> is dated 1867.  Edward J. Nichols, An Historical Dictionary of Baseball
> Terminology, page 37, has the following two citaitons:
>
> 1858 Chadwick Scrapbook (clipping) [Henry Chadwick scrapbook at New York
> Public Library]
> 1864 Brookly Daily Eagle 22 Sept.
>
> The OED's first use for "infield" meaning the four fielders positioned in
> that portion of the baseball field is dated 1897.  Nichols has the
> following two citations:
>
> 1883 Sporting Life 27 May 4
> 1892 New York Post 18 May
>

For the second sense, Dickson has Aug. 20, 1864 in the New York Clipper
(via Peter Morris).

https://books.google.com/books?id=ceeU7xSLw5kC&pg=PA451

--bgz

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