Chin music?

Posted by Masakim on February 17, 2003

In Reply to: Chin music? posted by Andy Sporner on February 17, 2003

: : I've heard this said by announcers in American baseball when a pitch is thrown very close to the batter to 'brush' him back from crowding homeplate. Does anyone know the origin of this phrase? I understand the idea of throwing the ball in the vicinity of the chin, but why 'music'?

:
: From the Major League Baseball termology:

: chin music:
: A pitch that is high and inside.

chin music
1 n phr by 1830s Talk, esp inconsequential chatter; =CHITCHAT: "... chin music calculated to allay her treoidation" --S J Perelman
2 n phr baseball by 1880s Various kinds of raucous shouting at a baseball game, from the crowd, from the players to each other, from the players or managers to the umpires, etc
3 n phr baseball by 1980s A pitched ball that passes close to the batter's face; = BEANBALL: "You ever face major league pitching, Berkowitz? You ever face chin music?" --Jane Leavy
From Dictionary of American Slang by Robert L. Chapman
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[1] Says I, give us none of your chin music. (_Davy Crockett's Almanack_, 1837)
[2] The Clevelands have been hearing some chin music that sounded like the mother tongue to tthem. It was [George "Orator"] Schaffer's. (_Detroit Free Press_, May 5, 1883)
[3] The beanball (iy's sometimes called "chin music") is a weapon. Hitters don't like pitchers throwing at them. (Jim Bouton, _Ball Four_, 1969)