1898 Special Instructions to Players and the 2011 American McCarver Style Guide
My dad — a Yankees fan until the institution of the DH, since then a die-hard Phillies fan, and, take my word for it, a hell of a good guy despite the fact that he now invariably prefixes “Yankees” with the adjective “damn” — was quite excited to learn that I’ve endeavored to write for a sporting publication. But he gave me an earful regarding the colorful language in Knauss’s piece on the McCourt/Dodgers fiasco.
“You don’t need that sort of language, John.”
“But Dad,” I told him, “imagine you were a lifelong Dodgers fan. They were one of the proudest and most-storied franchises in baseball. Now, they’re writing bad checks to Vin Scully. You can’t express that sort of outrage without some strong language.”
Point conceded.
Anyway, the conversation reminded me of this recent gem from Letters of Note — an 1898 league-wide National League memo addressing the scourge of on-field profanity. Pay no attention to suggestions that it was a satirical in-joke; anything this funny must be true.
