Does it go back to the early, early days of baseball when GMs would literally gather around a hot stove in winter time to discuss trades, etc.? Or maybe something to do with "let's see what they have cooking on the hot stove this off season"?
2007-01-19 03:29:54 · 5 answers · asked by vic 2 in Sports ➔ Baseball
You're pretty much right on with your idea of people sitting around a hot stove during the offseason to discuss the game. The phrase was first used with application to baseball in an 1866 edition of "Spirit of the Times," a one-time sports publication.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/28/messages/579.html
2007-01-19 03:40:02 · answer #1 · answered by Craig S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Hot Stove League is a baseball-related term, referring to the off-season. Therefore, it is not actually a "league", but the term instead calls up images of baseball fans, anxious for the start of the new season, gathering around a hot stove during the cold winter months discussing their favorite baseball teams. The term has also come to refer to the wave of off-season player transactions (trades, re-signings, free agency, etc.) that occur between seasons. Since most free agent signings and trades occur during the off-season, this time of significant player transactions (including rumors and speculation about possible trades), is often referred to as the "Hot Stove League".
2007-01-19 11:38:04 · answer #2 · answered by Oz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Agree w pretty much everything said already, but the term is as old as baseball , & has only involved discussion of free agent signings in the last 30 years.
Way back when I was a young fan, the hot stove league was all about fans playing wannabe GMs , proposing trades w each other & explaining why THIS is gonna be the year for their favorite team & players.
2007-01-19 17:06:20 · answer #3 · answered by SantaBud 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not really a "league" per se, this term refers to baseball fans gathering around a hot stove during the cold winter months to continue to discuss baseball. Since most free agent signings and trades occur during this time, the baseball offseason of many significant transactions, and the news and rumors about those transactions, is often referred to as the Hot Stove League.
http://baseball.about.com/od/basicrule1/g/hotstove.htm
2007-01-19 11:34:39 · answer #4 · answered by Miss Jesse 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dickson's Baseball Dictionary is an excellent source for definitions, usages and etiology of baseball terms of all kinds. However, it lists four different possible sources of the term "hot stove league".
I can tell you, however, that the term is not restricted to baseball. It is used in the same manner by at least one other sport, hockey.
2007-01-19 12:17:30 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋