Original photo by BrianAJackson/ iStock
The act of high-fiving a friend in celebration may seem like it’s been around forever, but in fact, the gesture originated even more recently than cellphones or email. Lacking any earlier reputable reports, the most widely accepted origin story goes as follows: The high-five was first used during a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros on October 2, 1977. After hitting his 30th home run of the season, left fielder Dusty Baker was greeted by his teammate Glenn Burke, who excitedly offered a raised hand to celebrate, which Baker then slapped in return. Burke then hit a home run of his own, and the pair repeated the motion.
The players celebrated another homer hit three days later with their new gesture, and that moment was photographed by the Los Angeles Times, which ran the image on the front page of the October 6 edition with the caption “GIVE HIM A HAND.” It wasn’t until 1980 that the term “high-five” was definitively coined and began appearing in print, with its first such appearance in a March 25 Boston Globe article, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Oops, incorrect!
It's a factDespite its positive connotation in Western culture, the thumbs-up gesture is akin to giving the middle finger in other parts of the world. It remains taboo in parts of West Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Greece, and elsewhere, though younger generations may not consider it as offensive.
Another oft-cited report attributes the creation of the high-five to the 1978-1979 University of Louisville men’s basketball team. During practice, Wiley Brown offered his teammate Derek Smith a low-five — a knee-level gesture that was commonly used by African Americans as a symbol of unity. At that moment, as reported in The Week, Smith responded, “No. Up high,” thus giving literal rise to a new gesture. This was cited as the origin of the high-five in a New York Times article on September 1, 1980. However, this event postdates the Baker-Burke story, which makes the NYT’s claim suspect (assuming the reported timelines are indeed accurate).
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Handshakes date back to ancient Mesopotamia.
Handshakes were used by people in ancient Mesopotamia no later than the ninth century BCE. One of the earliest examples is a stone relief from that era depicting the kings of Babylon and Assyria shaking hands to commemorate a pact. The gesture was later mentioned several times by Homer in the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” as a way to convey trust between two parties.
Shaking hands as a greeting was popularized, in part, by Quakers in the 17th century. Many Quakers weren’t particularly fond of greeting people with traditional bows or curtsies, as those gestures reinforced an unequal, hierarchical structure. Instead, they began using handshakes as a sign of equal respect.
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Inbox Studio, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
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