A longtime baseball umpire wonders why the slang phrase can of corn refers to “an easily caught pop fly ball.” Another term for “a high fly ball” is rainmaker, suggesting that the ball goes up so far that it’s capable...
Marco from San Diego, California, is curious about why sportscasters speak of a player who put English on a ball. The expression appears to have begun with British players of billiards and snooker, who first figured out how to give a ball some extra...
Right off the bat, you can probably name a long list of common idioms that come from baseball. For example, “right off the bat.” But how about some of the more obscure ones, like the “Linda Ronstadt“? In a nod to...
A ducksnort in softball or baseball will never make the highlight reel. It’s often a blooper of a hit that lands between the infield and the far outfield, but still gets the job done. Paul Dickson, author of the authoritative Dickson Baseball...
If something is in your wheelhouse, it’s well within your area of expertise. According to the Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the term wheelhouse refers to swinging a bat when the ball is right in your crush zone. This is part of a complete...