"Tale of hte Tape"

CAn anyone tell me where the phrase "tale of the tape" comes from and what it means?

I am familiar with the financial origins.
The NY Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange used to report trades on a ticker tape machine. The "tape" was a very narrow piece of paper upon which the trades were printed as they happened.
If there were a lot of trades going on with a particular issue the action could be followed by following the tape, hence the "Tale of the Tape".