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

[Dan Goncharoff]

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/rookie-eligibility

A player shall be considered a rookie unless he has exceeded any of the
following thresholds in a previous season (or seasons):

• 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues.
• 45 total days on an active Major League roster during the Championship
Season (excluding time on the Injured List).

On Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 8:35 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

> 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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> >
>
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