Where does "Can of Corn" come from when a baseball player hits an easy fly ball? I have heard this since I was a boy.

I once guessed that a 'pop-up' mutated into 'popcorn' and then into 'can of corn'.

Anybody wanna give this one a try?

Ralph

Ralph, You make it sound as if we are going to guess. We only give definitive answers around here. (<:)

CAN OF CORN: An easily played fly ball. Reported to have originated with the grocer’s practice in the early 1900s of storing cans of corn on a high shelf. When a grocer needed one, he’d simply tip it forward with a rod or a broom handle so that it would tumble easily into his waiting hands.

(The Language of Sport by Tim Considine)
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Ken G – September 13, 2005

I am trying to resist the temptation to ask why grocers only stored cans of corn on high shelves rather than cans of, say, apricots or carrots - or indeed both.

Because the Jolly Green Giant could reach the top shelf to stock it silly.
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I detest giving people points, so I shall pretend that wasn't funny.

Bob, just as Phil resisted the temptation to ask about other vegetables, you now don't have some points either because they aren't there.

Should I be more confused?

All I can say is "Ho ho ho".

Gentlemen, Here’s what the 'Answer Guy' from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had to say:

Monday, July 30, 2001

Answer Guy: Getting inside a ‘CAN OF CORN’

Q: Ever since I was a little kid, I've heard a lazy fly ball referred to as a "can of corn." Where did this odd little phrase originate?

AG: The origin of "can of corn" is the most-repeated question received here. Although it was answered a few seasons ago, here it is again. A couple of possible sources of the phrase are cited in the definitive "New Dickson Baseball Dictionary." The most accepted: The phrase, first used in 1896, makes reference to a long-ago practice where a grocer would use a stick to tip a can of vegetables off a high shelf, then catch it in his hands or outstretched apron. Another possible source: Such a pop fly is as easy to capture as "corn from a can."
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Could it be that what was in that can on that high shelf was not as important as the fact that a ‘can of broccoli,’ ‘can of asparagus,’ ‘can of mung beans,’ ‘can of endives,’ ‘can of apricots,’ ‘can of carrots,’ etc. did not trip as lightly off the tongue and have the single syllable alliterative resonance of that ‘can of corn’?

Ken – September 14, 2005

We don't want to open that can of worms.

I just logged in today to try to get the answer to the same question, after hearing Fran Healy, the Mets announcer, constantly use that term last year, and now Ron Darling is using it this year. The answer makes sense. I can imagine some young man playing baseball who worked in his spare time in a grocery store who first caught an easy fly ball and said " that was as easy as catching a can of corn" and then it gradually got shortened to just "it's a can of corn." Maybe it started out as a can of tomatoes, and then changed to the easier, shorter version, as the guy explained here.

"Can of corn" is also a tempting alliteration of mono-syllabic words, especially because both words end in "n" and the "r" slurs in easily between the "o" and "n," and "of" degenerates into o' resulting in a simple three-syllable phrase for jocks with low cranial capacities.