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H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921.

Page 129

rules of the game were established by the London Football Association. Soccer is one of the relatively few English experiments in portmanteau words. Another is to be found in Bakerloo, the name of one of the London underground lines, from Baker-street and Waterloo, its termini.
  But though the English talk of racing, football, cricket and golf a great deal, they have developed nothing comparable to the sporting argot used by all American sporting reporters. When, during the war, various American soldier nines played baseball in England, some of the English newspapers employed visiting American reporters to report the games, and the resultant emission of wild and woolly technicalities interested English readers much more than the games themselves. An English correspondent, greatly excited, sent me the following report from the Times of May 26, 1919:
 
The pastime was featured by the heavy stick work of Wallace, former Harvard University man, who slammed out a three-bagger and a clean home-run in three trys with the willow. The brand of twirling for both teams was exceptionally good, and the fielding not at all bad considering the chances the A. E. F. boys have had to practise since crossing the deep to join the bigger game over here. For the first three frames both teams hung tough and allowed no scoring, and both Shawenecy and Thomas appeared to have everything necessary, with Shawenecy holding the edge. Fourth innings netted a brace for the home lads. Ives clouted one to centre and Richards let the sphere slip; Eagle watched four bad ones go by, and, after Ives was tagged trying to steal home, was pushed over for the first tally when Williams leaned against one for two sacks. Shawenecy went bad here and gave Storey a free ticket, and Wallace came through with a three station bingle that shoved Williams and Storey across. Brown ended the agony by missing three.
In the sixth, Cambridge made an effort to close the gap when Shawenecy kissed the leather for a bingle. Richards picked a double, and Myers followed up with a safe swat which brought the count within one. Looked good for another after Myers swiped the second stop, but Thorngate and Hart both carved the breeze. Oxford wasn’t going to let them feel too good about it though, so they slipped up a few more to convince the crowd it wasn’t visitors’ day. Eagle went to first on Myers’ error. Gammell took a stroll, and both were forced at the third corner by Williams and Storey. Cobb Wallace stepped into a nice one for the washout drive and was well over the platter before the pill was relayed in. Shawenecy was here yanked to give Clarke a chance to use his slants, and after singling through second, Brown was nabbed off the first pillow.