[Ads-l] "Eephus" origin -- Hebrew "efes"? Yiddish "eppis"?

[Nancy Friedman]

The new feature film "Eephus <https://www.eephusfilm.com/>" takes its title
from a quirky baseball pitch that MLB.com says "is known for its
exceptionally low speed and ability to catch a hitter off guard." MLB
asserts that the word was coined by Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Maurice
Van Robays (1914-1965), who is alleged to have said: "Eephus ain't nothing,
and that's a nothing pitch." MLB continues: "In Hebrew, the word 'efes' can
be loosely translated into 'nothing,' and the word 'eephus' undoubtedly
stems from that."

Undoubtedly?

My Hebrew is rusty, but I know that *efes* is literally, not loosely,
"nothing" or "zero." What I can't figure out is how Mr. Van Robays would
have known about it. A few Yiddish terms, like *shamus* (private
detective), were circulating among non-Jews in the 1930s and 1940s -- but
Hebrew? In major league baseball?

Here's a fanciful tangent: Could *eephus *have come instead from Yiddish
*eppis*: "a little something" (from German *etwas*)? (The Yiddish
equivalent of Hebrew *efes *is *nul.*)

Any leads from this knowledgeable group?

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/pitch-types/eephus


Nancy Friedman
Chief Wordworker
web: wordworking.com <http://www.wordworking.com>
substack https://fritinancy.substack.com/
Medium <https://medium.com/@wordworking>

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