Someone who is always making excused or inventing alibis is called an
Alibi Ike. The designation was invented by Ring Lardner in his short story
“Alibi Ike” (1914) as a nickname for outfielder Frank X. Farrell, who was
so named by his manager because he had excuses for everything. When
Farrell drops an easy fly ball, he claims his glove “wasn’t broke in yet”;
when questioned about last year’s batting average he replies, “I had
malaria most of the season”; when he hits a triple he says he “ought to
had a home run, only the ball wasn’t lively,” or “the wind brought it
back,” or he “tripped on a lump o’ dirt roundin’ first base”; when he
takes a called third strike, he claims he “lost count” or he would have
swung and hit it. The author, who had a “phonographic ear” for American
dialect, created a type for all time with Alibi Ike, and the expression
became American slang as soon as the story was published. In an
introduction to the yearn the incomparable Lardner noted, “The author
acknowledges his indebtedness to Chief Justice Taft for some of the slang
employed.”