Quote:
Originally Posted by RUKen
OK; I just found an article from the San Francisco Call and Post dated April 8, 1892, six weeks prior to Pickering's 7-for-7 game. The paragraph is headed "Texas Leaguers Defined", and states:
"Harris' men got but six hits off Harper, and half of these were what is known to the profession as Texas leaguers, but why so called is beyond the ken of mortal man. If a batted ball drops between the in and out field in such a way that neither can get it they call the hit a Texas leaguer, which is perhaps as good a name as any."
So--the Pickering association is apocryphal.
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Nice article find. Perhaps Pickering's great day at the plate just helped further popularize and cement the phrase into the baseball lexicon.
Brian