We use metaphorical sports allusions and phrases in our everyday lives without a thought of their origins. Often, these etymologies are fascinating snapshots of bygone eras.
When Bob Prince used to say Bobby Clemente settled under a big can of corn, I just assumed that phrase was part of baseball lore without a second thought to its origin. In fact, it was an allusion to the days when grocery stores would place canned goods on the top shelf, which had to be retrieved with a stick. The falling product would be easily caught, thus the phrase caught on in baseball.
In the first half of the 20th century, the three most popular sports in America were baseball, boxing and horse racing. As a result, the contemporary lexicon was flooded with allusions to those pastimes.
One of the most interesting baseball allusions was the phrase out of left field to refer to something odd or unusual. According to a 1961 column by William Safire, Chicago’s West Side Grounds, the original home of the Cubs, had a mental institution just beyond the left field wall. The loud utterances of the patients led to the phrase.
Another familiar term traces its roots back to baseball’s cousin, cricket. Today, we use the term hat trick mostly as a hockey reference when a player scores three goals in a game. However, the phrase dates to 1858 when Heathcliff Stephenson took three consecutive wickets on successive bowls in Sheffield, England. His club took up a collection to buy the game’s hero a new hat. The term stuck and by the 1890s evolved to a jockey winning three races. By 1902, newspaper accounts used the term in reporting soccer goals.
Boxing references are ubiquitous including having someone in your corner, throwing in the towel (originally, chucking up the sponge), and throwing one’s hat in the ring. In the early, shady days of boxing, spectators would literally throw their hat into the ring to signal they were up for a fight.
As for horse racing, phrases such as down to the wire and across the board became part of our normal conversations. Even the phrase hands down derives from the track. It was an allusion to the jockey relaxing his hands on the reigns when the race was won.
More recently, the phrase alley-oop is associated with basketball. It comes from the French word allez-oop, which acrobats say before they jump. The term was originally used in the late 1950s to describe San Francisco 49ers wide receiver R.C. Owens’ leaping catches. Somehow, the term migrated to basketball in the following decade.
Finally, many people over 60 remember the “original” Hail Mary pass from Dallas Cowboy Roger Staubach to Drew Pearson in 1975. Staubach told reporters he closed his eyes and said a Hail Mary before throwing the pass. However, the phrase actually dates back to 1922 when Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen defeated Georgia Tech 13-3. Horsemen Elmer Layden and Jim Crowley said their rosary before both touchdowns. The “Hail Mary” plays became a tradition at the Catholic institution for the next 40 years before Staubach broadly popularized the term.
Correction from previous column: A reader pointed out that Craig Weaver surpassed Dave Goodwin in 2017 as the school’s all-time rebounding leader at West Greene. He had 1,023 rebounds and 1,133 points.
Hometown Heritage correction: The photo used for the Waynesburg College 1966 championship team is actually 1966 Waynesburg High School conference championship team.