Can Of Corn

To say that baseball has spawned a wide range of colorful terms would be an understatement, and "can of corn" is a good example of just how weird baseball lingo can get. According to Paul Dickson, "can of corn" was first used back in 1896 to describe a fly ball hit so high that the fielder has time to stand directly under the falling ball. The standard theory traces the term to old-fashioned grocery stores, where canned goods were stored on high shelves and pulled down with a long pole. An experienced store clerk would have no trouble catching the tumbling can, thus the term. Other theories trace "can of corn" to such fly balls being as easy to catch as "taking corn out of a can," or to the hollow "tin-canny" sound made by the bat in striking such a hit, or to an old-fashioned "cornball" confection made with popcorn and molasses, but the grocery explanation seems most logical to me.