What We Talk About When We Talk About Baseball
June 24, 2005
I love the language of baseball. Wouldn’t you know there is a free online baseball dictionary and thesaurus? I tested it for one of my favorite terms and it has it, though with an unfortunately tepid definition. Plus, I am pretty sure the word originated with George Scott, and there is no mention of that. How do you talk about “taters” in the baseball sense without mentioning the Boomer?
Looking at the baseball-reference.com page on Scott, it lists him at 6’2 and 215. He struggled with his weight, especially late in his career and upon retirement, but I wonder if he was ever only 215? I remember him as a giant of a man, even early in his career. Of course, I was only 8 when I first started watching baseball, so he would have seemed like a giant. But I am 6’2 and 215+ something. Does that make me a giant of a man?
Posted by Bill Trippe at June 24, 2005 7:40 PM
Absolutely, George Scott's the man. First time I ever heard the word "tater", it referred to a home run. And as for 215 pounds--I don't think so.
First game I remember seeing was on television. 1959, maybe 1960. It was Yankees v. Boston. I was never a Yankee fan. Started out somehow as a Dodger fan, tho' the only time I was in Ebbets Field was, my mother tells me, when she was pregnant with me in 1953.
Anyhow, I want to say I vaguely remember that Yankee game on TV as Ted Williams' last game. He hit a homer, and my Uncle Jimmy, a diabetic Yankee fan whose insulin shots to himself fascinated me--tho' I recall thinking as a 5-year-old that if I got diabetes, I was a dead man, as I couldn't take a shot, much less give myself one (indeed, to this day, I can have blood drawn--barely--but putting stuff in via injection just doesn't happen, unless it's anasthesia by i.v.) ...
So, anyhow, my Uncle Jimmy says something like "They won't see players like him again" about Williams.
All that memory from your "tater" reference--I'd say your blog's a success as is, contentwise.
Stephen Tiano
Page Design & Production (that's Book Design, print)
Calverton, NY
Comments for this entry have been closed.
Absolutely, George Scott's the man. First time I ever heard the word "tater", it referred to a home run. And as for 215 pounds--I don't think so.
First game I remember seeing was on television. 1959, maybe 1960. It was Yankees v. Boston. I was never a Yankee fan. Started out somehow as a Dodger fan, tho' the only time I was in Ebbets Field was, my mother tells me, when she was pregnant with me in 1953.
Anyhow, I want to say I vaguely remember that Yankee game on TV as Ted Williams' last game. He hit a homer, and my Uncle Jimmy, a diabetic Yankee fan whose insulin shots to himself fascinated me--tho' I recall thinking as a 5-year-old that if I got diabetes, I was a dead man, as I couldn't take a shot, much less give myself one (indeed, to this day, I can have blood drawn--barely--but putting stuff in via injection just doesn't happen, unless it's anasthesia by i.v.) ...
So, anyhow, my Uncle Jimmy says something like "They won't see players like him again" about Williams.
All that memory from your "tater" reference--I'd say your blog's a success as is, contentwise.
Stephen Tiano
Posted by Steve Tiano at June 27, 2005 12:40 PMPage Design & Production (that's Book Design, print)
Calverton, NY