Help with abbreviations

[greymule]

I haven't heard it in a while, but when I played, an umpire who reacted to every comment was a "rabbit ears" (no abbreviation that I know of). The term could also apply to a player (usually a pitcher).

A relief pitcher was commonly mocked as "short-order cook" (again no abbreviation), but I was never quite sure what that term was supposed to mean.

Remember "can o' corn"? Anybody know the origin?

I should say that decades ago, both teams would routinely spew a torrent of supposedly humorous insults at the other team from the first inning to the last. Players usually seemed to sense not to "cross the line" (e.g., no names, only numbers), but anything the opposition could get on you about, they would, and of course the worst thing you could possibly do was let them know you heard them.

[Rufus]

Originally Posted by greymule

Remember "can o' corn"? Anybody know the origin?

I believe this harkens back to the days when canned goods were stacked up high on shelves in general stores. Customers would indicate what they wanted and clerks would use some kind of pincers to pick the top can off the stack and catch it as it came down.

The part I was unaware of until I looked it up was: The reason a can of corn was considered the easiest "catch" is that corn was the best selling vegetable in the store and so was heavily stocked on the lowest shelves.