[Ads-l] Definition of "Rookie" (Sports)

[Laurence Horn]

And it's even a bit more complicated--in MLB a player may qualify as a
rookie in their second year, provided they didn't play too many games in
their first year.  Or had too many at bats/plate appearances.  I forget how
it works, but it leads to controversies over whether this should really
count. There was also a lot of controversy over whether players (like
Ichiro Suzuki) who had extensive professional experience in Japanese
baseball leagues should count as rookies in their first year in MLB. Ichiro
did, and was in fact Rookie of the Year in his debut season with the
Mariners, as well as MVP, but some claimed he wasn't *really* a rookie, so
there's some uncertainty about the folk definition if not necessarily the
official designation.

LH

On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 1:00 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:

> OTOH, in general, a baseball player in his first year in the major leagues
> is a rookie,
>
> despite how many seasons of minor league ball he may have played.  And
> although I can find
>
> examples of minor league players being referred to as "rookies" in their
> first years at
>
> a particular minor league, I don't think that usage is routine.  (This,
> despite the existence of minor leagues called
>
> "Rookie Leagues".)   So I think there's reason to keep "major" in the
> definition, particulary
>
> when preceded by "esp."
>
>
> (And while I was in that section of the OED, I noticed that it does not
> have an entry
>
> for the card game "Rook" [name taken from the bird].
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_(card_game) )
>
>
> > I agree. I would have said something like "a first time player at a given
> > level of sports".
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 9, 2022, 1:34 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu<
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ads-l>> wrote:
> >
> >> The OED's definition of "rookie," sense 2., is:
> >>
> >> "Originally and chiefly North American. A new member of a sports team,
> >> esp. one playing in his or her first major league or championship."
> >>
> >> This definition seems pretty off-base.  Merriam-Webster's definition
> seems
> >> closer to being accurate: "a first-year participant in a major
> professional
> >> sport."  But I don't think the qualifying words "major" and
> "professional"
> >> should be in there.
> >>
> >> Fred Shapiro
> >>
>
>
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