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Terms Used in Vintage Baseball

Bully
A word that can be used for almost any occasion - such as good job. Yelling "Bully, for you, sir" is usually done after a fellow ballist makes a good play.
Ballist
A term used to describe a player.
Dilatory
Tardy, stalling... "Show me some ginger and stop being dilatory!"

Dipper
A tin cup - used to drink water out of a wooden barrel. "Has anyone seen my dipper?"
Fetch Up
To stop suddenly. Yelling "Fetch up!" to get a base runner to stop at a base.
On the square
To tell the truth. "On the square, I caught the ball on the first bounce."
Sand
Fearless, having nerve... "That First Baseman has a lot of sand!"
Tight Scratch
A difficult game... "This game has become a tigh scratch."
"Hit a corker"
A line drive hit like a cork from a champagne bottle.
"Bottled it in style"
A term used to describe catching a corker (line drive).
"A ripping ball hit over the ring of cages"
Balls hit hard to the long field.
Howitzer shots
Another term for balls hit hard to the long field.
Short field
Where a 'Texas Leaguer falls; a short hit.
Long field
Balls hit a long distance fall into the long field.
Tame hit
a batter getting out on a soft, short hit.
Heavy Hitter
A strong hitter; this term stuck around from the 1860's.
"Stopped in his hands as if it belonged there..."
A ball hit directly to a player and well played.
Sent to the grass - Took a back seat
Said when a player gets put out.

"Got his second"
Said when a player steals second base.
"Put some steam on"
Describes when a runner is running at full speed.
"Grabbed the leather in style"
Making a nice play on a hit ball (balls have leather cover).
Pluck and perserverance
Used to describe a player who has a lot of guts.

Vim
Describes an energetic player.
"Hard piece of work cut out for them"
Coming in to bat after giving up a bunch of runs.
"Get square with their opponents"
Coming back and scoring a bunch of runs.
"Roused his dander..."
To make another player mad.
Showed the whites of his eyes
When a pitcher or fielder looks a runner back to base.
Chaffing and kicking
Describes a player when he's complaing
Side out
End of an inning; said when a team uses all three of their outs.
Quiet acquiescence
How to accept a call from the umpire when a request for judgement is made, even if he booted the call big time.
Country club
A rural ball club of less skilled ballists.
Fieldsmen
A ballist on defense.
Hit in the bellows
When a fielder takes a batted ball, unexpectedly, in the privates.
Whitewashed or Skunked
When a team does not score a run all game; in 1865 the trem 'ace' was replaced by 'run.'
Daisy cutter
A ball that is pitched low and is hit sharply along the ground without rebounding to any extent; the ball is hard to field and considered good batting.
Grounder
A low bounding ball and a term that's still in use today.
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