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Seventh-inning stretch

Posted by ESC on June 02, 2000

In Reply to: Seventh inning stretch posted by michael sheridan on June 02, 2000

: I know it is not a phrase but more of an event, either way, somebody must know its origin. Any takers?

From the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997): "seventh-inning stretch -- These words have become synonymous for a brief break from any long period of sitting. They derive of course from baseball's traditional seventh-inning stretch, which dates back to the 19th century. One theory credits the ritual to President William Howard Taft, who is said to have stood up to stretch in the seventh inning of a Washington Senator game, prompting the rest of the crowd to follow. Better documented is the theory that the tradition originated at a game in 1882 at Manhattan College in New York City. Manhattan College baseball coach Brother Jasper, also the prefect of discipline, instructed restless students in the stands to rise and stretch for a minute in the seventh inning before the game continued. This seventh-inning stretch became a ritual at all Manhattan College games and spread to the major leagues during the 1880s when the college team played exhibition games against the New York Giants in the Polo Grounds."

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