[Ads-l] Antedating of "Pinch Hitter"

Peter Reitan pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM
Tue Aug 9 19:10:30 UTC 2022


I have not looked closely at this cite, but looked at other occurrences of “pinch” in baseball in and around and slightly earlier than the cite.

People were regularly referred to as a “good hitter in a pinch” or “good pitcher in a pinch,” which I understand to be something like a good clutch player in a difficult or important situation.

This meaning may have been the reason it was adopted to refer specifically to substitute batters going in at an important part of the game to get a hit.  It is possible that some instances of “pinch” hitter may simply refer to someone hitting well at an important time in the game.  Something to look for in any case when looking at early instances.

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From: Ben Zimmer<mailto:bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, August 9, 2022 10:36 AM
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Subject: Re: Antedating of "Pinch Hitter"

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Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Pinch Hitter"
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On Tue, Aug 9, 2022 at 12:39 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

>
> pinch hitter (OED 1899)
>
> 1896 St. Louis Post-Dispatch 23 July 5/3 (Newspapers.com)  Doug is a good
> "pinch" hitter.
>

The OED's 1899 cite (added in a 2006 update) is one that I shared on the
alt.usage.english newsgroup in 2003 and on ADS-L in 2005:

---
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usage.english/c/h78qvfAQq9Y/m/4xxIP3-_PpcJ
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-May/049854.html
DECIDED BY ONE SCORE; Senators Win a Ten-inning Game from Orioles.
Washington Post, July 8, 1899, p. 8
La Chance, who is one of McGraw's best "pinch" hitters this season, was
permitted to walk, a clever move in strategy by Winnie and Kittridge.
---

As we discussed back in '05, an early meaning of "pinch hitter" (as used in
the 1899 cite) is equivalent to what we'd now call a "clutch hitter," i.e.,
one who can deliver a timely hit in a high-pressure situation, based on the
expression "in the pinch(es)" (equivalent to "in the clutch"). Even though
the 1899 cite has been added to the OED entry, the definition hasn't been
revised to reflect this historical usage. (The definition given is "a
substitute batter, esp. one who (once substituted) replaces the scheduled
batter for the remainder of the game.")

Dickson (relying on Edward J. Nichols) has the now-familiar "substitute
batter" meaning attested from 1902. The 1896 cite shared by Fred involves a
substitution at the plate, so it's a bit ambiguous as to which meaning
applies. Here's the full context:

---
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107268194/pinch-hitter/
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1896, p. 5, col. 3
Dowd's judgment in sending Douglas to the bat instead of Breitenstein is
open to question. Doug is a good "pinch" hitter, but Breit is hitting the
ball as hard as any of them. Then, if the game had been but tied, a new
pitcher would have to go in. As Breit was warmed up and pitching good ball,
he was the best man to put In the box.
---

(That's St. Louis Browns player-manager Tommy Dowd substituting Klondike
Douglass for the pitcher Ted Breitenstein.)

--bgz

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