Origins and meaning of, “Ham and Egg it”?

Solution 1:

ham-and-egger

Noun: an ordinary or regular person; also, a rather incompetent person.

Examples: He is a real ham-and-egger, rubbing elbows with the construction workers and plumbers and cops at the local watering hole.

Origin: from the old days when miners held boxing matches; the winner got money, the loser got a ham and egg meal

via - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ham-and-egger

That seems like an original sports usage, but it morphed:

ham-and-egging

pp. In team sports, producing a good overall result by having different team members perform well at different times.

via - http://wordspy.com/index.php?word=ham-and-egging

Too bad there is no known etymology to the more current sports usage, however in match play golf a team will take the best score of player A on one hole, player B on another, C and D on others – and apparently (but I have no support) the term “ham and egging it” took off first in golf, and was then applied to other sports.

I don't see a direct relation to the Chicken and the Pig fable, although one might fabricate one based on a pitcher getting the Win (committed) and relief pitchers just getting a few outs without a Win or a Save (involved) - but that does not really apply to the game in question - or if it does it applies to all games and the game in question is nothing special that would merit distinction - it seems to me.

I guess I came here to see if someone could use the various online tools (that I know nothing about) to see when the term first appeared and how it was used.

Solution 2:

This is one of the strangest idioms I've come across.

The definition, compiled from an Urban Dictionary entry and a random website:

Definition
Using one thing to get something done while the other things are set aside temporarily

Obviously not ideal references, but they get the job done. This definition is also vague, but I'll explain more.

A very possible origin of the idiom derived from here:

Origin
In the case of actual ham and eggs, the pig is killed while the chicken is simply providing an egg and is not killed.

In the case of this announcer talking about the Diamondbacks', he is saying they are switching pitchers out every now and then so no one pitcher is on the field for the entire game.

This usage is technically the opposite based on what I defined above, but it can still be used the exact same way.