Baseball Metaphors and Idioms

Baseball Cartoon by Andertoons

Baseball metaphors are a part of our everyday talk in the US.  Even people who have never played baseball use and understand baseball inspired words. 



For example, the cartoon above shows a business presentation.  Everyone is looking at a graph that is labeled Wrigley, Fenway, and Shea.  The caption for the cartoon says "of course, these are just ball park (figures) numbers."   A ballpark literally means the stadium where a baseball game is played.  A ballpark number means an estimated number or one that is close but not exact.  In the cartoon it's funny because the graph is labeled with the names of famous baseball parks. 

If you would like to learn more Idioms derived from Baseball.  Click on the link in the post. 

Here are a few examples,

Pinch-hit
This means to substitute for someone or take thier place temporarily in an emergency.  For example,  I couldn't lead conversation hour on Tuesday because I was sick so I asked my friend to pinch-hit for me.  In a baseball game it means to have one player bat for another player. 

To Throw Someone a Curve Ball 
This means to surprise someone or do something out of the ordinary that is not expected or wanted.  
For example,  Our teacher really threw us a curve ball when she said we would design our own lab project.  No one knew where to start because we usually do the projects in our text book. 
In baseball, a curveball is a pitch thrown to the batter that moves in an unexpected way.  It usually curves away like it will be outside the strike zone so the batter doesn't swing at it.  Then at the last minute it curves in to it and causes a strike. 

Batting a Thousand
In baseball, they keep statistics of how many hits a batter gets.  If a player hits every ball, every time, he has a batting average of 1000.  So, outside of a baseball game when someone does many thing in a row very well we say they are batting a thousand.  For example, You got another A in school.  You are really batting a thousand with your grades. 

Thanks for listening.  This has been Cassie Brenn for fastfoodenglish.blogspot.com

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