Battery

Henry Chadwick

Charles Ives (pitcher) and unnamed catcher; the battery of Hopkins Grammar School in 1894

In baseball, the term battery refers collectively to the pitcher and the catcher, who may also be called batterymen^[1] or batterymates of one another.

History

The use of the word 'battery' in baseball was first coined by Henry Chadwick in the 1860s in reference to the firepower of a team's pitching staff and inspired by the artillery batteries then in use in the American Civil War.^[2] Later, the term evolved to indicate the combined effectiveness of pitcher and catcher.^[2]

References

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