Rain check (baseball)

In baseball, a rain check is a ticket issued in case a baseball game is started but canceled due to rain (rained out) prior to reaching the point of becoming an official game.

The practice is recorded since the 1870s – though it did not become generally established until the 20th century – and today the term "rain check" is used idiomatically to refer to any deferred promise.

History

The institution of issuing tickets for games canceled due to rain dates at least to 1870, while the term rain check dates to at least 1877; in the National League it was pioneered by the St. Louis Brown Stockings:

Originally a rain check for a canceled game was simply a ticket valid for a future game – in lieu of a refund – not specifically for a makeup game. Further, at the time clubs would sell reusable hard cardboard tickets, which were turned in at the admissions gate, then resold at the box office at the conclusion of the game. Originally rain checks were issued to spectators as they exited, but this resulted in severe losses to clubs, due to free-riders and fence-climbers also getting tickets. This was solved by Abner Powell circa 1889 by using a stub on the original ticket as rain check. Powell is thus often incorrectly credited with inventing rain checks, while in fact he instead refined an existing practice.

Glossary of English-language idioms derived from baseball

American English has been enriched by expressions derived from the game of baseball. Sometimes referred to as "America's pastime," baseball has especially affected the language of other competitive activities such as politics and business.

This is an alphabetical list of common English-language idioms based on baseball, excluding the extended metaphor referring to sex, and including illustrative examples for each entry.

B

ballpark

batting 1000

beanball or throw a beanball

big hitter(s)

big league(s)

brand new ballgame

brush back

bush-league

C

Charley horse

cleanup hitter

closer

cover one's bases

curve, curveball

D

double header

down to the last out

ducks on a pond

E

extra innings

F

first base

Also a sexual metaphor: first base/second base/third base/home run are widely used to describe certain stages of making out/having intercourse, though precisely which acts fall under which base appear to be regional idiom. First base can be simple kissing.

first inning or early innings

Sam Brown

Sam Brown may refer to:

See also

Sam Brown (activist)

Sam W. Brown, Jr. was a political activist, the head of ACTION under President Jimmy Carter, and ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Early life and education

Sam W. Brown, Jr. was born July 27, 1943 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs where he was, in his own words, "the outstanding ROTC cadet." In his childhood, he wrote, "it never occurred to me that America could be wrong." Brown attended the University of Redlands in California, where he was first the president of the young Republicans and then the student body president. In 1967 Brown was the chairman of the National Student Association's national supervisory board. In 1967 Brown ran for president of the National Student Association and lost. Brown received a B.A. from the University of Redlands in 1965, an M.A. from Rutgers University in 1966, pursued graduate studies at Harvard University Divinity School from 1966–1968, and was a Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Politics, Harvard University, in 1969.

Sam Brown (guitarist)

Sam T. Brown (January 19, 1939 – December 28, 1977) was a jazz guitarist.

History

Sam T. Brown's playing style was unusual in that he performed in a generally jazz-rock format, while performing in Keith Jarrett's ensembles that sometimes veered close to a free jazz style. His initial recording success included membership of the jazz rock group Ars Nova during the 1967-1969 period.

Brown's most noteworthy recorded performances were on recordings of Keith Jarrett (particularly, his "American band" with Dewey Redman); and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. On the Liberation Music Orchestra album he has a spotlighted performance on the 21-minute suite, "El Quinto Regimiento/Los Cuatro Generales/Viva la Quince Brigada".

He also performed as a session performer for popular artists as diverse as James Brown, Astrud Gilberto, Peter Allen and Barry Manilow.

Discography

As a sideman

With Carla Bley

With Gary Burton