Can of Corn — Baseball Bench Coach

Baseball terminology is full of history and fun stories. To be a true baseball fan, you need to speak and understand the language. Here are some of my and my blog followers’ favorite baseball terms:

BULLPEN. The bullpen is the area where pitchers warm up before and during the game. In the late 1800s if you arrived late to an MLB game, ballpark personnel would put you into standing room areas in foul territory. Since the fans were cordoned off and herded like cattle, the areas became known as “bullpens”. Fans weren’t too pleased with this, so ballparks began to use the areas for pitchers to warm up. Having bullpens in foul territory on the playing surface were commonplace well into the late 1900s. Due to safety considerations, today’s bullpens are located beyond the outfield fence.

SOUTHPAW. A southpaw is a left-handed pitcher. It wasn’t until 1935 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati that MLB introduced night games. Before then, the layouts of the ballpark diamonds were such that the batters would be looking east to the pitching mound so they wouldn’t be looking directly into the afternoon sun. Since pitchers were facing west when they looked into the plate, the arm of a left-handed pitcher would be to the south. One of my all-time favorite players was a southpaw, Sandy Koufax.

TEXAS LEAGUER. You might hear a radio or television broadcaster describe a bloop single between the infielders and outfielders as a “Texas Leaguer”. In 1901, the Cleveland Blues (now the Guardians) called up a minor league player from the Texas League, Ollie Pickering. Pickering led off for the Blues in the first American League game in history. In his first seven at-bats, he hit bloop singles. His teammates affectionately deemed the hits Texas Leaguers.

CHIN MUSIC. A pitch that is thrown near the batter’s head is often referred to as “chin music”. The intent of the pitch is most often to back a hitter away from crowding the plate. In the late 1800s, the phrase “chin music” actually was used to describe how fans would heckle players and umpires. Sometime in the 1940s the term became synonymous with a brushback pitch. Bob Gibson, along with some other of the great MLB pitchers in the 1960s, are famous for their chin music.

K. When starting pitchers known for recording strikeouts in today’s game go through the opponent’s lineup, you often see fans in the outfield seats posting “Ks”. A K is a strikeout. In the 1800s, a writer named Henry Chadwick was the first to keep score of a baseball game by using shorthand terms. He identified position players by numbers 1-9 (for example, pitcher is 1, shortstop is 6, etc.). Since he decided to use “S” for a sacrifice in the box score, he opted for K as a strikeout since K is the last letter in struck. A backwards K is now used to show the batter was called out without swinging at the third strike. Nolan Ryan holds the all-time record for Ks (5,714 in his career).

CAN OF CORN. Broadcasters also like to describe an easily, catchable fly ball to an outfielder as a “can of corn”. In the early 1900s, cans of corn were popular items in grocery stores since it was difficult to always have fresh vegetables on hand. Grocers would stock the cans on higher shelves. To retrieve them for customers, they would use sticks with hooks on the end and knock the cans off the shelf easily into their aprons. Broadcasters should never though describe fly balls as cans of corn for some outfielders. For example, Dave Kingman, known for his monster home runs, made every fly ball seem like an adventure.

FROZEN ROPE. A “frozen rope” is a hard hit, line drive off the bat of a hitter. It’s always been a great compliment – “you just hit a frozen rope” off the left-field wall. Baseball Digest traces the origin of the term to a sportswriter, Leonard Schechter, who in 1963, described one as “you can almost see the icicles dripping of it”. Perhaps Ted Williams, one of the game’s greatest hitters, hit the most frozen ropes. Nowadays, the term extends to outfield throws when a runner is gunned down at a base. Roberto Clemente’s throw to third base from the right field corner erasing an Orioles baserunner in the 1971 World Series is my favorite one of those.

HIT AND RUN. Baseball over the past fifteen years has become a station to station game — too much reliance on home runs. In the first two months of this season, we’ve seen though a huge increase in stolen base attempts. We’ve also witnessed the return of the “hit and run”, such that a baserunner attempts to steal second base and the hitter protects the runner by swinging at the pitch. The hitter’s goal is to place the hit in the spot left open by the shortstop or second baseman who is covering the bag. Some think that “hit and run” is a misnomer, for in fact the run happens first and the hit second. However, there is a “run and hit” play where the hitter is not required to swing and the stolen base attempt is the focus.

TATER. A “tater” is a home run. While triples, sacrifice bunts, and well pitched games capture my attention, most fans point to home runs as the most exciting play in the game. There is actually no consensus on when “tater” first became part of baseball’s lingo. Some say that since the bases are often referred to as sacks, the taters are the potatoes that get the most sacks. Boston sportswriters contend that former Red Sox slugger George Scott coined the phrase when he said: “I love my taters, my sweet potatoes and I Iove my home runs just like taters.” Barry Bonds is the all-time leader in taters with 762.

OPS. This is the new term describing a hitter’s performance. Gone are the days that a batter’s “numbers” were simply his batting average, HRs, and RBIs. OPS is a hitter’s on-base percentage (the percentage of time he reaches base for every at-bat) plus his slugging average (total bases reached for a hit as a percentage of at-bats). The phrase was first seen in a popular 1984 book, “The Hidden Game of Baseball”. OPS first appeared on the back of Topps baseball cards in 2004. An OPS of .800 or above is reached only by the best hitters in the game. The top ten career OPS leaders include Babe Ruth in the #1 slot (1.1636) and only one current player, Mike Trout, at #8 (1.0009).

Hey readers, what are your favorite baseball terms?

Until next week,

your Baseball Bench Coach