[Ads-l] stacked

[Laurence Horn]

In sports, the main reading I get is for baseball lineups, where the
hitters come to the plate one by one.  A lineup is more likely to be
described as "stacked" than, say, a pitching staff or a bench, and it's
more unusual for football or basketball where there's no sense that the
players are arranged to do their thing one at a time.

LH

On Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 12:18 PM Ben Zimmer <
00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> On Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 12:15 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > While this usage feels fairly common, the relevant sense of "stacked"
> > isn't explicitly covered in any dictionary I checked. Wiktionary gets
> close
> > with:
> >
> > ---
> > https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stacked
> > 7. (sports, video games, of a team) Having many skilled players.
> > ---
> >
> > It's plausible that "stacked" developed in sports as elliptical for
> > "stacked with talent" and the like, and then got extended to
> entertainment.
> > In the databases, I see other less elliptical variations like
> > "well-stacked" (perhaps modeled on "well-stocked"), "star-stacked"
> (perhaps
> > modeled on "star-studded"), and "talent-stacked."
> >
> > Early examples in sports:
> >
> > ---
> >
> >
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bayonne-herald-and-greenville-regist/201886735/
> > Bayonne (NJ) Herald, Dec. 5, 1896, p. 3, col. 2
> > The Alva A.C. were defeated by the well-stacked team of the Bergen Point
> > A.C., on the New Jersey A.C. grounds, on Saturday last, by the score of 6
> > to 0.
> > ---
> > https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-province-stacked-team/201886835/
> > The Province (Vancouver, BC), Aug. 27, 1908, p. 11, col. 1
> > They are bound to lose the to Vancouver's stacked team anyway.
> > ---
> >
> [snip]
>
> Sorry, that should read: "They are bound to lose the cup to Vancouver's
> stacked team anyway."
>
> --bgz
>
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