oddball trivia question

[corby44]

A bunch of us were at the ballpark the other night and, as usual after a strikeout, they threw the ball "around the horn". We got to wondering when or how this practice originated. No one could come up with an answer. Does any one on the forum have an idea?

 

[stomie]

A fair amount of expressions derive from nautical terms. For example, throws around the infield in order from third base to second to first are called "around the horn," an old sailing use for the manner in which a ship had to travel to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the pacific before the Panama Canal was constructed

 

[corby44]

Does anyone know where or when the practice started?

 

[cisco]

from baseballlibrary.com

Q: Where does the term "around the horn" come from?

A: According to Paul Dickson's The New Baseball Dictionary, the term "around the horn", which refers to a double play started by the third baseman, or throwing the ball around the infield after a strikeout, has its origins in sailing. It refers to the long voyage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Before the creation of the Panama Canal, ships had to travel south past the tip of South America, Cape Horn, to get from one ocean to the other. So the long journey from one ocean to the other, like the journey from third base to first, had to go "around the horn."
Christos Plakas