[Ads-l] "take one for the team"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is an example from the baseball domain in 1969. The phrase was in
quotation marks. I believe this citation can be improved. I performed
a very narrow search.

Date: March 26, 1969
Newspaper: The Brazosport Facts
Newspaper Location: Freeport, Texas
Article: Kelly, Shippers shutout CC
Author: Jesse Miller
Quote Page 10, Column 5
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/image/8343247/

[Begin excerpt]
Smith then "took one for the team" as losing pitcher Mike Bolden sent
him into the dirt with a duster and the Ships had men on first and
second.
[End excerpt]

Correction to previous message: In my previous message containing a
football example I mistakenly stated that the citation was from
Newspapers.com. It was really from GenealogyBank

Garson

On Sun, Mar 24, 2024 at 7:15 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The website Idiom Origins asserts that "take one for the team"
> originated in the baseball domain circa 1970. No citation is given
>
> https://idiomorigins.org/origin/take-one-for-the-team
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Take one for the team
> This expression derives from baseball and dates from the latter half
> of the 20th century c. 1970, and means that a player takes a pitch on
> the body in order to move to first base . . .
> [End excerpt]
>
> After a quick search I found a 1972 citation from U.S. football. A
> football player blocked a last-minute field goal attempt to clench a
> victory. The player was hit in the mouth while blocking the football.
>
> Interestingly, the journalist said that the football player "took one
> for the team, as they say in baseball". So the phrase was already in
> use in the baseball domain.
>
> Date: November 13, 1972
> Newspaper: St. Paul Pioneer Press
> Newspaper Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
> Article: Bryant's Block Lifts Vikings Past Lions (Continuation title:
> Vikings Come Out on Tp, 16-14)
> Author: Ralph Reeve (Staff Writer)
> Start Page 24, Quote Page 27, Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Bobby Bryant got hit on the mouth in the last five seconds . . . and
> the Minnesota Vikings thereby survived an afternoon of agony to defeat
> the Detroit Lions for the 10th straight time.
> [End excerpt]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> On came Errol Mann, who said later: "The snap was perfect, the set was
> perfect, my timing wasn't off . . . I was never so sure of a kick in
> my life.
>
> "Where did the guy come from? I never saw him."
>
> "The guy" was Bobby Bryant, who took one for the team, as they say in
> baseball . . . and it salvaged a mighty sweet Viking victory.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Mar 24, 2024 at 6:47 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > The benefit of taking one for the team in baseball is clear -- batter goes
> > to first base. Not sure what the benefit is if getting hit real hard when
> > blocking in football.
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 24, 2024, 5:36 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I don't. I'd think a brutal block in football would be more likely.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Sun, Mar 24, 2024 at 5:24 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Is there any evidence that it could have originated as a comment by hit
> > > > batsmen in baseball, which is my guess?
> > > >
> > > > > On Mar 24, 2024, at 4:31 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Now a former RNC Chair, Ronna McDaniel has joined NBC News as a "news
> > > > > analyst," saying she only supported false claims of a stolen election
> > > for
> > > > > three years because "sometimes you have to take one for the team."
> > > > >
> > > > > 1972 _Houston Post_ (May 19) 7B: I suggested to Channel 13's Ken
> > > Johnson
> > > > > that they "take one for the team" by putting Cavett on earlier, but he
> > > > > wasn't familiar with the expression.
> > > > >
> > > > > The phrase seems to have taken off only in the 1980s.
> > > > >
> > > > > JL
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > > > truth."
> > > > >
> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org