Manager—You mean after he hit it. For God's sakes, use your head in there! This ain't Fort Worth!
Pitches—I wisht to hell it was!
Manager—And you're li'ble to get your wish!
Glossary
In there: In the pitcher's position.
Up there: In the batter's position.
Shakin' me off: Refusing to pitch the kind of ball I signalled for.
Waste: To pitch a ball so high or so far outside that the batsman cannot reach it.
Dink: To throw a slow ball.
Hook: A curve ball.
Peg: A throw.
Hop: To bound.
Hit the dirt: To slide.
[The following "Élégie Américaine," by John V. A. Weaver, of Chicago,[1] marks the first appearance of the American vulgate, I believe, in serious verse. It has been attempted often enough by comic poets, though seldom with the accuracy shown by Mr. Lardner's prose. But it was Mr. Weaver who first directed attention to the obvious fact that the American proletarian is not comic to himself but quite serious, and that he carries on his most lofty and sentimental thoughts in the same tongue he uses in discussing baseball.]
You get so tired of records, hearin' an' hearin' 'em,
And when a person don't have much to spend
They feel they shouldn't ought to be so wasteful.
And then these warm nights makes it slow inside,
And sittin's lovely down there by the lake
Where him and me would always use ta go.
Without him; and it did at first. I'd play
Some jazz-band music and I'd almost feel
- ↑ From In American; New York, 1921.
