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...
Why do baseball announcers say that a pitcher who throws a high fast ball is bringing high cheese? The cheese might be related to big cheese, a term that in turn may go back to Hindi and related languages where chiz means “thing.” This...
Ducks on the pond, frozen rope, tumblebug, and high cheese are baseball slang. Ducks on the pond means runners on base, frozen rope is a line drive, a tumblebug is a fielder who makes a catch and adds theatrical flair, and high cheese is a fastball...
Baseball fans know the eeuphus pitch-that arcing lob made famous by Rip Sewell in the 1946 All-Star Game. Before that, the word eephus referred to insider information. Jim Strain in La Mesa, California, even uses it as a verb, as in, “That...
circle change n.— «That finger, which McBeth cannot straighten, bends perfectly around the ball when he throws what in baseball parlance is called a “circle change” or an “OK change.” The trick to throwing the pitch is to put as little...
