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You are here: Home / Language / Where Did the Term “Shortstop” Come From For the Position Between Second Base and Third Base?

Where Did the Term “Shortstop” Come From For the Position Between Second Base and Third Base?

April 26, 2020 by Karen Hill

Baseball began with four outfielders and only three infielders to guard the bases.

In 1849, D.L. Adams (1814-1899) realized that three men could cover fly balls in the outfield.

By moving one of these outfield players to the infield he could keep a lot of ground balls from getting through by “stopping them short,” thus giving the new position its name of shortstop.

Technically, the shortstop position is still an outfielder.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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