The Dickson Baseball Dictionary () by Paul Dickson

Author:Paul Dickson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2009-03-07T16:00:00+00:00

“Kill the umpire.” Postcard. Andy Moresund Collection

kindergartner hist. Syn. of rookie, 1. 1ST USE. 1917 (The New York Times, Oct. 4; Edward J. Nichols).

kindling A team’s bats rendered “useless” by a pitcher recording strikeouts and broken bats. Greg Maddux has been associated with creating splintered wood that is useful only to start fires: “The late movement on his pitches caused so many futile swings and broken bats that the Indians lost count of the kindling” (Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, Oct. 30, 1995, p. 38).

Kiner’s Korner The name of the left-field area at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh from 1948 to 1953. Originally named Greenberg Gardens, it was created to increase home run production. After a chicken-wire fence was erected inside the scoreboard as a new wall, home run balls did not have to be hit as far. Greenberg Gardens was renamed in 1948 for Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh’s prodigious home run hitter.

King and His Court, The [softball term] A barnstorming softball team of four players led by Eddie Feigner, a hard-throwing pitcher who founded the team in 1946 and pitched in more than 10,000 games. The other three players were a catcher, a first baseman, and a shortstop.

King of Swat A nickname applied to sluggers; specif., Ed Delahanty and Babe Ruth.

kiss To hit a ball exceptionally hard. Edward J. Nichols (An Historical Dictionary of Baseball Terminology, PhD dissertation, Jan. 1939) noted the association of the term with “smack.” 1ST USE. 1911. “[Gabby Street] kissed center field fence with a mighty drive” (Joe S. Jackson, The Washington Post, Sept. 10; Peter Morris).

Kissing Bandit A woman named Morganna Roberts who, beginning in 1971, periodically bounded onto the diamond to plant chaste kisses on ballplayers, including Pete Rose, Cal Ripken Jr., Johnny Bench, George Brett, and Steve Garvey, among others. “She got her nickname from a Cincinnati sportswriter, but in fact there was no banditry about her, for few athletes resisted her heavily lipsticked advances” (Steve Rushin, Sports Illustrated, June 30, 2003).

“kiss it goodbye!” A salutation for a home run made famous by Pittsburgh Pirates announcer Bob Prince and also adopted by Washington Senators broadcaster Shelby Whitfield, whose book about the history of the franchise was entitled Kiss It Goodbye. A variation of the term was used in a baseball sense as early as 1908: “[Glenn] Liebhardt then went in to pitch and so far forgot himself as to put the ball in the groove for Sam Crawford. It was then a case of ‘kiss yourself goodby,’ for the mighty Crawford slammed the ball into the bleachers for a home run” (Ed F. Bang, The Sporting Life, May 9; Peter Morris).

kit-cat A 17th-century English forerunner of the American game of three-old-cat, featuring a triangular base layout and three batsmen (David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, 2005, p. 130).

kitchen 1. The area of a batter’s torso inside or at the edge of the high and inside portion of the strike zone. A fastball coming into this area—“pitchin’ in the kitchen,” “getting in his kitchen,” “cheese for your kitchen,” etc.

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