I was emailing with Mighty Mike earlier this morning and he was telling me about his nice day at the ballpark yesterday with some of his college buddies. Later, he mentioned that a guy I knew in college* asked an interesting question about the origins of the use of the letter “K” when referring to strikeouts. Mighty Mike then thought I should post the answer on the blog as one of the site’s resident baseball historians.
The answer to this guy’s* question goes back to a man named Henry Chadwick, who is considered a founding father of baseball and, arguably, the most important non-player in the game’s history.
Chadwick is considered America’s first sportswriter and is the man responsible for creating the newspaper box score and the scoring system used in baseball today. When a TV or radio announcer calls a 6-4-3 double play or an E-5, Chadwick’s numerical system is being employed. Thus, the K was Chadwick’s notation for a strikeout (because the letter “S” was already used for sacrifice).
For his contributions to the game, Chadwick was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938. His plaque says it all.
*Why have I linked to pictures of a pepper mill and a red bell pepper? Those that know who I’m talking about will understand. Those that don’t get it – don’t worry, there’s not much of a story there. They’re just the easiest visuals I could come up with to represent who I was referring to.
The answer to this guy’s* question goes back to a man named Henry Chadwick, who is considered a founding father of baseball and, arguably, the most important non-player in the game’s history.
Chadwick is considered America’s first sportswriter and is the man responsible for creating the newspaper box score and the scoring system used in baseball today. When a TV or radio announcer calls a 6-4-3 double play or an E-5, Chadwick’s numerical system is being employed. Thus, the K was Chadwick’s notation for a strikeout (because the letter “S” was already used for sacrifice).
For his contributions to the game, Chadwick was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938. His plaque says it all.
*Why have I linked to pictures of a pepper mill and a red bell pepper? Those that know who I’m talking about will understand. Those that don’t get it – don’t worry, there’s not much of a story there. They’re just the easiest visuals I could come up with to represent who I was referring to.
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