[Ads-l] antedating "gopher ball"

[Jonathan Lighter]

1932: OED

1. a hard-hit ground ball. Obs.

1909 _L.A. Examiner_ (May 27) 29 [GenealogyBank]: Ragan lost his nerve
after finally squelching Tozer's gopher ball in the fifth. He threw
high over Cameron's head.

2. Orig. joc. a pitched ball that is hit for one or more bases,  esp.
(now solely) for a home run.

1930 _Houston Post-Dispatch_ (Mar. 16) Sports Sec. 1 [Newspapers.com]
:"How did you go last season?" "Pretty well...Except when I threw my
gopher ball." "What's a gopher ball?"..."Every time I pitched it, I
heard the fellows on the other team yelling 'Go for one! Go for two!
Go for three!'"

JL
-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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