major leaguen.adj.

1888 Sunday Herald (Syracuse, N.Y.) 14 Oct. 5/1 Today these two organizations [sc. the National league and the American association] are the ruling power in base-ball. They make up what is known as the major leagues.

1890 Bismarck (N. Dakota) Daily Tribune 22 June 4/2 Under the National agreement the American recognized as a major league.

1892 World Almanac 227 The Western League began playing in 1886... It was one of the ‘major leagues’ last year.

1910 J. Evers Baseball in Big Leagues iii. 50 The principal abuses of the system have been by major leagues taking players from lower class leagues.

1954 Sun (Baltimore) 9 Apr. 20/4 There are now from 22 to 24 cities being considered for the major leagues... This is the opinion of Ford Frick, baseball's high commissioner.

1962 Washington Daily News 1 June 63/2 Ralph Terry of the New York Yankees and Phil Regan of the Detroit Tigers are running head and head today for the unwanted gopher ball championship of the major leagues.

1972 Time 13 Mar. 48/3 In 1944, he [sc. a basketball pitcher]..posted the lowest earned run average in the major leagues.

1990 Show Sept. 28/2 The major league draft is held. This is when it is possible for a team to buy another team's unprotected..player..providing said team keeps the draftee in the major leagues throughout the following season.

1994 T. Boswell Cracking Show v. 100 Mussina has now been in the major leagues for nearly a year and a half.

1941 C. Brackett & B. Wilder Ball of Fire (film script) Mrs. Joe Lilac! Third Avenue girl in the major league at last.

1975 C. James Fate of Felicity Fark v. 45 Flick staggered home each night limp with fatigue, Exalted to be in the Major League.

1985 M. Binchy Echoes iv. 413 She is in the major league of bitchiness..a Class A bitch.

1889 Trenton (New Jersey) Times 8 July 3/3 None of the major League teams play a prettier game than this club.]

1906 Cincinnati Enquirer 1 Apr. iv. 1/3 The Southern Class A organization has the advantage of witnessing the work of the youngsters being tried out by the major league clubs.

1914 St. Nicholas Mag. Aug. 906/2 No Major League pitcher ever worked harder than do the twirlers in the final games of the season between Princeton, Harvard, and Yale.

1942 Sun (Baltimore) 3 Apr. 18/6 The pitching machine now used in several major league training camps.

1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 35 (advt.) Start with the finest beaches in Florida, add great fishing,..major league baseball, greyhound and horse racing.

1979 United States 1980–1 (Penguin Travel Guides) 113 Sports: Plenty of major-league action in town.

1951 New Yorker 17 Nov. 71 Four pages of orchestration an hour..is considered major-league speed.

1977 Rolling Stone 19 May 75/2 The legendary Quintet of the Hot Club of France..was the first and only European group of that time ‘accorded major-league status in jazz by musicians and fans alike’.

1990 J. Yeovil Krokodil Tears (BNC) 13 She had other business to cover, major league business.

1991 J. Phillips You'll never eat Lunch in this Town Again (1992) 572 At first he goes for me, then lets me down. And I thought I was being so charming, so charismatic, so major league.

1908 Baseball Mag. Sept. 40/2 The Ohioan did not have to resort to violence long in order to be a major leaguer.

1970 Cape Times 28 Oct. 26/2 There are few American major leaguers earning less than $30,000 a year.

1991 Discover Mar. 39/3 While millions of children grow up with the dream of becoming a major leaguer, only a handful will ever have the ability to perform at this level.

1998 Cincinnati Enquirer 1 Feb. 1/2 The young players they're counting on may or may not be major-leaguers.