If a baseball is hit really hard, it’s said that the batter powdered it, used to refer to hitting or pitching that’s especially powerful, as if the ball had been fired from a cannon. Similarly, a pitcher with a blistering fastball is said to be...
Sarah from Leyden, Massachusetts, wonders about the many ways baseball commentators and sportswriters use the word stuff, as in “The stuff is there, but the command is off,” or “The kid’s got great stuff, but he’s only got one pitch.” The term most...
Right off the bat, it’s easy to think of several everyday expressions that derive from America’s pastime–including “right off the bat.” The Dickson Baseball Dictionary catalogues not only those contributions but also more obscure terms like “pebble...
fosh n.— «Roger Clemens just started doing the “Fosh” and he’s already got another pitch to make batters” knees bend. Tom Gordon thinks the fosh may be his newest out pitch. Like a dance craze that sweeps the nation, the “Foshball” is all the rage...
cutter n.— «It is a bread-and-butter pitch for many left-handers—the fastball that bores in on right-handed batters, a “cutter” as it is known.» —“Slumping Renteria: ‘I feel bad’” by Lynn Henning in Seattle, Washington Detroit News (Michigan) July...
sit dead red v. phr.— «The ball sailed into the night, slamming into the facade on the second deck in left field. It fell straight down and was grabbed by a 33-year-old plumber from the San Diego area. In baseball terminology, he was “sitting dead...