Subject: re : struck out by nomo

the symbol k was used in early baseball box scores , indicating that the batter had struck out . this abbreviation was probably originated around 1850 by henry chadwick who " introduced the newspaper box score so that one player 's performance could be fairly measured against another 's . " chadwick was a british born newspaperman who is described in ken burns ' baseball as baseball 's " chief arbiter , publicist , and goad " who was the country 's first baseball editor , working for the new york clipper and for the brooklyn eagle for nearly fifty years . he also wrote chadwick 's baseball manual that standardized the rules , etc . of the early game . ( this information comes from my baseball informant , chris hakala , and the narrative transcript of geoffrey ward & ken burns ' _ baseball _ published by knopf , 1994 . ) john limber department of psychology university of new hampshire , durham nh 03824 , usa email : john . limber @ unh . edu fax ( 603 ) - 862-4986
