Chinese home run

English

Etymology

Either from supposed tendency of early 20th-century Chinese immigrants to the United States to do minimally acceptable work for minimal compensation, or a possible corruption of "Chaney's home run" from such a hit by a batter with that name that ended a game when the ball could not be found.

Noun

Chinese home run (plural Chinese home runs) (US, baseball, slang)

1. (derogatory, dated) A home run hit to the minimum distance possible, usually just over the outfield fence closest to home plate.
   • 2011, Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, W.W. Norton & Co., pages 182-184:

     Chinese home run: 1. A derogatory term for a home run hit over the portion of the outfield fence closest to home plate, often one that lands just inside (or hits) the foul pole in a ballpark with small dimensions.

2. (New England) A foul ball hit high and far, usually over the back of the plate.
   • 1985, Stephen King, “The Monkey”, in Skeleton Crew, Putnam, page 163:

     Hal was too small to play, but he sat far out in foul territory, sucking on his blueberry Popsicle and chasing what the big kids called "Chinese home runs." (Cited at Dickson, above. He further quotes correspondence from King that indicates that his understanding of this term was that it applied to a foul ball over the backstop)

Synonyms

• Chinese homer