![]() Todd Warshaw/GettyImagesįor a hitter who doesn’t swing for the fences, preferring instead to slap well-placed singles, you can use the term Punch-and-Judy hitter. The late Tony Gwynn is the model of a Punch-and-Judy hitter, amassing an astonishing 3141 hits and just 135 home runs in his 20-year career. Nubbin, Merriam-Webster says, is much older: Its first recorded use is from 1692. “It may be a corruption of the word ‘nubbin,’ which, as any Middle Western farm boy can tell you, refers to a dwarfed ear of corn-one that is small and not properly filled out,” the author wrote. One of its earliest appearances in print is in the Passaic Daily Herald, where its “obscure” origins are explored. “A weakly hit ground ball” is Merriam-Webster’s neatly succinct definition of nubber. Because of a 2020 rule change, LOOGYs were much diminished: All pitchers must now face at least three batters, so no more “one-out” guys. When columnist John Sickels created this term-which stands for “lefty, one-out guy”-in 1998, it referred to any relief pitcher who was specially deployed to get one lefty batter out and then leave the game. It’s good to have “ a good hose” and sad to have a “sore” one. The arm a player throws with is their hose. Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki was known for his laser-like throws from the outfield. ![]() High cheese is designated for a fastball through the upper strike zone-it can also be alto queso. The use of the word cheese for something great has a history dating back more than two centuries, but the word’s usage to describe a fastball is relatively recent, going back to the '80s. Nowadays, a five-strikeout game is termed a platinum sombrero, and golden sombrero has been bumped down to four. Hat trick in baseball was originally used for a lowly three-strikeout performance for a batter, with sombrero being designated for four punchouts (sombreros are bigger than typical hats, after all) and golden sombrero for five. It has its roots in hat trick, which originated with the sport of cricket before eventually becoming synonymous with a hockey player who scores three goals in a game. Since the late 1980s, golden sombrero has usually referred to the (fictitious) trophy awarded to a batter who ignominiously strikes out four times in a game. Frozen Ropeįrozen rope is used for a powerful hit that sends a ball hurtling into the outfield (or over the fence) in a straight line with a trajectory that traces barely any arc. Its quirky moniker was supplied by outfielder Maurice Van Robays, who told a reporter it was an “eephus ball.” When asked for clarification, he replied, “Eephus ain't nothing, and that's a nothing pitch.” It might be related to efes, the Hebrew word for zero. It was invented in 1941 by Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Rip Sewell, though he didn’t name it. EephusĪn eephus describes a slow, high-arcing pitch that more closely resembles a slow pitch than anything from a regular game of fastball. Today, baseball announcers and writers use the more avian-friendly blooper to describe the same type of hit. The evocative term dying quail for a fly ball that quickly descends before reaching the outfielder, resulting in a single, may have been coined in the 1940s. “Just one more dying quail a week and you’re in Yankee Stadium,” Kevin Costner, Jim Beam in hand, explains to Tim Robbins in Bull Durham (1988). Aspirin Tabletĭying quails (or bloopers) might not look impressive, but they still get runners on base. They’ll really put some mustard on your sports prose. For just a peek at some of the most notable examples of baseball slang, have a look at the 17 examples below. Paul Dickson’s compendious Baseball Dictionary is the go-to place for most lexical queries relating to America’s favorite pastime. There is a picturesqueness in the line of goods handled by the baseball writer that you don't stack up against anywhere else in the paper.” Taking up the same cause five years later, The New York Times proclaimed that, “the slang of the sporting page is America’s most piquant contribution to the English language.” ![]() It tells the story tersely and to the point. “Ever since baseball began, it has had a language of its own,” The Providence Journal declared in a stirring defense of the game's slang in 1910. How’s your hose? If the question is confusing-or sounds like someone is trying to sell you gardening equipment-you might not be up on your baseball slang. ![]()
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