1909 T206 Ollie Pickering

RUKen · #1 07-01-2024, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterb69

I believe May 21 1892 Pickering was signed by Houston of the Texas League and debuted that night where he went 7 for 7, all bloop singles. There was no outfield fence so outfielders tended to play deeper. I believe this game coined the phrase Texas Leaguer.
But he was the first batter for the upstart AL which I did not know.

Thanks for that input. May 21st was not Pickering's first game with Houston, but on that date he did go 7-for-7. The only newspaper description that I found did not confirm that his hits were bloop singles, but that game is almost certainly the reason that the term "Texas Leaguers" is connected with Pickering.

Edited to add: I take back that Pickering's 7-for-7 game is the likely inspiration for the term "Texas Leaguer". See my next post.

RUKen · #2 07-01-2024, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RUKen

Thanks for that input. May 21st was not Pickering's first game with Houston, but on that date he did go 7-for-7. The only newspaper description that I found did not confirm that his hits were bloop singles, but that game is almost certainly the reason that the term "Texas Leaguers" is connected with Pickering.

Edited to add: I take back that Pickering's 7-for-7 game is the likely inspiration for the term "Texas Leaguer". See my next post.

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.

brianp-beme · #3 07-01-2024, 05:23 PM

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.

Nice article find. Perhaps Pickering's great day at the plate just helped further popularize and cement the phrase into the baseball lexicon.

Brian

Casey2296 · #4 07-01-2024, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

Nice article find. Perhaps Pickering's great day at the plate just helped further popularize and cement the phrase into the baseball lexicon.

Brian

+1

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