Why is a strikeout called K? | Pastball Podcast #18

The symbol "K" in baseball was developed by baseball pioneer Henry Chadwick who was the New York Herald’s first baseball editor in the 1860s. Back in the early stages of baseball stat-keeping was done entirely with letters and no numbers. When the strikeout became an official statistic, "K" in the word “strikeout” was the first letter not already being used. As the single was S, the triple was T, the run was R, the inning was I and then the 17strikeout was K by default. Another reason the letter "K" is used is that it is made with 3 strokes of the pencil, symbolizing the 3 strikes for the strikeout. “K” is one of the only symbols used in today’s scorekeeping that originated in the 19th century. This is Past Ball Podcast and as the Great Bob Uecker said Get Up Get Outta Here!The Past Ball Podcast is a podcast that gives you a quick story on some of the craziest, wildest, funnies, or just plain informative on America's Past Time. Unlike a catcher in a passed ball, we will not drop the ball on give you the past.Do you have a topic or story you want us to cover? Feel free to email us at [email protected] to Collin Wood at Artota Records for the tunes you hear in this episode. If you are looking for custom tunnage email him at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.