[Ads-l] Antedating of "Pinch Hitter"

[Ben Zimmer]

"Breit" was a common nickname for Theodore Breitenstein (it's in his
Wikipedia bio). Klondike Douglass (who of course already had a nickname)
doesn't show up as "Doug" from what I can see, so I'm guessing the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch writer was just being playful, extending the
"Breit"-esque nickname formation.

On Tue, Aug 9, 2022 at 2:30 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> How common was the practice of using shortened versions of names in sports,
> or generally, at the end of the 19th Century? Or was this possibly a
> telegram transcription mistake by the newspaper?
>
> On Tue, Aug 9, 2022, 1:36 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---
> > 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.)
>

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