After wandering through 3 scoreless innings the Boys forged out ahead by 4 runs in the 4th. The scoring was powered by a Hemer Homer. Interesting trails always have a nasty twist or two and the top of the 5th saw the lead slip out from under their feet with a Trail grand slam. With the everything in the balance the six inning was exciting enough to spill ones beverage. Trail took the lead in the top with Hall’s lead off double and eventually scoring on a can-of-corn to right field. Needing something special in the bottom of the 6th to spur Dunbar on… Catliff (Cat-Man-2) was up with one out and a 2-2 count and strokes a solo shot to again see the boys on even footing. This was followed by Akermann and Letvinchuk singles but further progress was stumped by a 1-3 third out. Turning the corner we thought there would be a clear path ahead… but not. The last pitch of this epic route required active-protection with at least some of the coaches using friction-knots to steady themselves. Trail managed to get the potential winning run on with a walk, and then some with a second base runner being hit-by-pitch. Footing now seemed reminiscent of a scree field on the slopes of near by Red Mountain. Dunbar held it’s position with the third out to centre field. The team now pressed forward to the end, Single by Hemer, Andrews reaches first on an error, Lim to first on a single to jam up the bases with no outs. Hemsworth immediately forces the situlation with a key single to summit Hemer at home. After a few moments beverages were again safe in steady hands. Never in doubt.
Origin of baseball term “can of corn”
The phrase is said to have originated in the nineteenth-century and relates to an old-time grocer’s method of getting canned goods down from a high shelf. Using a stick with a hook on the end, a grocer could tip a can so that it would fall for an easy catch in his apron.
That explains the ‘easy catch’ but where does corn come into the equation?
In the very early days of baseball, the outfield was called the “corn field.” Especially in early amateur baseball the outfield may have been a farm field.