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In an interview with Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post the other day Nats manager Manny Acta summed up his impression of 23 year-old hurler John Lannan this way: “Lannan has moxie and command. He can hit the glove.”

Gotta love Manny: a 39 year-old Dominican native going ‘old-school’ with the 100 year-old moxie reference.

If you’re young and the ‘moxie’ expression isn’t something you’ve heard before you’re probably more familiar with other words that have similar meanings such as ‘chutzpah’ (from Yiddish), ‘bollocks’ (from the Brits) or ‘cojones’ (from Madeline Albright).

mox·ie (mok - see) n. Slang, The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.

And unless you grew up in New England decades ago you probably have no knowledge of what Moxie, the soft drink, is all about. Since the name of the soft drink is the origin for the term meaning ‘spunk,’ here is a brief primer:

Moxie, the cola, originated in Maine in the 1870s and was originally marketed as a tonic for what ails you. Among the afflictions it was said to cure were “softening of the brain” and “loss of manhood.” Apparently it was the Viagra of its day. I have a feeling that wasn’t what Manny was referring to.

By the 1880s the boys on the Moxie marketing team must have realized the soda would never measure up to popularity of the little blue pill so they added carbonation and repositioned the drink to be used for ‘refreshment.’ I use the term lightly. If you’ve ever tasted it you know, despite its deceptively pleasing orange can, it is the most vile concoction ever invented. The one and only time I tasted it I think I looked like this:

First off, in your Flintstones jelly glass it looks like 10W40. There is no sparkle to it at all. It is the black hole of colas. If there is carbonation in there it gets bogged down in the sludge. Second, Robitussen by comparison, is a sweet-tasting elixir. There is no amount of aspartame that could make Moxie taste pleasant.

Even so, it supposedly sold well in its hey-day. Included among Moxie’s famous adherents was Calvin Coolidge. But then again, ‘ol Cal always looked like he had just downed a glass of the stuff:

I think this is a picture of him on his wedding day.

Anyway, Moxie (the soft drink) is not completely unknown to baseball lore. Ted Williams is said to have endorsed the product once upon a time. So, this is another indication that Manny knows his baseball history. And he also knows a gutsy kid when he sees one.