[Ads-l] "heat" = fastball (1967)

[Ben Zimmer]

Here it is in 1966, attributed to George Scott, then a rookie third baseman
with the Red Sox.

---
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108694576/george-scott-heat/
New York Daily News, June 5, 1966, p. 30, col. 3
When asked what kind of a pitch he hit, Scotty laughed: "He tried to put
some heat by me." That heat is a Scottism for fast ball.
---

On Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 3:32 PM Grant Barrett <gbarrett at worldnewyork.org>
wrote:

> Nice. I took a brief look recently and found it in 1969, with several cases
> in the early 70s of people calling "heat" out in quotes, probably
> indicating it was new or slangy to them. GB
>
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 10:09 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Paul Dickson's Baseball Dictionary has an example of "heat" referring to
> a
> > pitcher's fastball from the Nov. 1974 issue of Baseball Digest. Here are
> a
> > couple of antedatings.
> >
> > ---
> > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108675569/heat-fastballs/
> > Boston Globe, Nov. 30, 1967, p. 41, col. 2
> > [Tony Conigliaro:] "When we get going I'm going to have some of our guys
> > give me some heat (fastballs), and I'll know then if I'll have any
> > problems."
> > ---
> > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108675982/seaver-heat/
> > Newsday, Apr. 23, 1970, p. 44, col. 1
> > He was protecting a count of one ball, two strikes, and he knew the
> > fastball was coming. "I knew he [Tom Seaver] was going to give me his
> > heat," [Al] Ferrara said, "because he was really bringing it."
> > ---
> >
> > OED, as is the case for so many baseball terms, has zero coverage for
> > "heat," "heater," "high heat," etc.
> >
> > --bgz
>
>

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