Every time I hear the verb “to boot” in this context it is transitive, but the object is always “it.” One never booted the ball or the play, one simply “booted it.”
I can only imagine that this refers to a play where a fielder runs towards a ball and kicks it out of his own reach before he picks it up. But I’ve never seen that actually happen.
I’ve never heard that phrase - maybe it’s a speech peculiarity of the particular announcer you’re listening to?
I have heard “booted it”, “booted that one” and “booted the play”. I always assumed it originated with an actual kicked ball, and came to be used for any error.
Ditto, except for cases where the ball is actually booted…
No, it’s common and widespread. I’ve always assumed it was from the case where a fielder accidently kicks a ball out of reach, which has been extended to other kinds of plays.
Ever since I was 10 years old I’ve heard this phrase to describe an error as often as I’ve heard “fly ball” to describe a high hit to the outfield. If you Google
“<your favorite MLB team name here>” booted
you will get thousands of hits.
As one who played a lot sandlot ball back there in the very early thirties I have seen the ball kicked by a player in the act of retrieval.
's’amatter of fact I’ve done it myself.
And it was the type of boo-boo that made many a single into a double!
So-I agree that that’s where the term started.
EZ
One boots a bround ball.
One muffs a fly ball.
AMEN
Or even a ground ball…
The term in baseball is cited first in 1913, and was a general term used to refer to a fielder’s error, no matter the position. I know that doesn’t answer the ‘why’ of your question.
To boot a person in 1877 meant to kick him. So, perhaps kicking the ball was the origin.
Muff to indicate an error goes back to the mid-1800’s. There was even a column on a score sheet for “muffs.”