baseball rat
n.— «As he became more sure with the bat, as he became the player who hit .300 at every stop, as he settled down on the field and in the clubhouse, his personality came out. Not just the one whose competitiveness can overwhelm veteran teammates, but the serious one, the one Alex Cora refers to as a “baseball rat.”» —“Regained edge, sharper play” by Amalie Benjamin Boston Globe Oct. 2, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Tom Harris from Bluebell, Pennsylvania, wonders: In baseball, when a batter is said to take a ball, what exactly does take mean in that context? Batters have been advised to take a ball since the mid-1850s, when rule changes established the modern...
It’s the ultimate road trip: A father and son retrace the journey of Odysseus and find a way to navigate their relationship. Plus, the story behind the phrase a flash in the pan: It has nothing to do with cooking or gold mining. Also, what’s a...