Leadoff? Lead-off?

Somebody, please, give me a clarification on when to use a hyphen and when not to.

 

lead-off single?

 

No hyphen: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090411&content_id=4222310&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=538322
http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2009/04/brent-lillibridge-newest-white-sox-leadoff-hitter-in-shuffled-lineup.html
http://www.star-telegram.com/284/story/1315134.html

Hyphen: http://www.seattlepi.com/scorecard/mlbnews.asp?articleID=201225 (which is a pickup from The Sports Network).

And a Google news search for lead-off leads off with Google asking me if I want to search for leadoff.

Having never hyphenated leadoff myself — and with the preponderance of evidence available — I conclude no hyphen.

 

Maybe it's my German training, but I tend to avoid hyphens or separations in compound words (halftime, leadoff, layup, centerfielder). More times than not, the AP stylebook backs me up.

 

It's like a ton of other two-word verb phrases in sports (kickoff, shutout): one word as a noun or adjective, two words as a verb. The leadoff batter, Joe Grammar, is also scheduled to lead off the fourth inning.

 

Who's managing that team? Joe Grammar can't run or hit.

 

DING. Ding. ding.

 

yes.
In that instance it would hyphenated.

 

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I'm going to blog about him not swinging the bat.

 

Nobody else can, either. Opposing pitcher's gone 9-up-9-down.

It's obvious that Joe Grammer is a member of the Washington Nationals. (Hi Moddy! )

 

Not for me/us. Always one word.

On a related note, I've been thinking of making a style change here that would be very simple. All -up constructions one word.

makeup, changeup, matchup, etc.

There are some double vowel issues, but I think those are preferable to doing some words hyphenated and some one word.

 

I always write leadoff (single, hitter, etc.).