Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Obscurity of the Day: Reddy the Rooter
Baseball's been over for a month now, and I'm starting to jones for it already, so let's check out a baseball strip today.
Reddy the Rooter was by George Hopf, one of the good bullpenners at the New York Evening World. Reddy was an office boy who spent most days playing tricks on his boss in order to get off work so he could go see his beloved New York Giants play ball. Reddy's schemes aren't especially memorable, but his use of baseball slang is encyclopedic. I'm a big baseball fan, and I've never heard a home run called a "fence-breaker", and rarely heard the terms "grass-cutter" (hard grounder) or "cross the Rubicon" (score a run). Color me impressed.
This strip ran only during the baseball season, completely sidestepping that old problem of what to do with your character in the off-season. In 1907 the strip ran from July 10 to October 7, and in 1908, it ran April 15 to October 8.
Labels: Obscurities
