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As one of America’s oldest and most venerated past-times, baseball has accumulated a language all of its own over the years. In this article we are going to go through some of the terminology associated with this great game Some of these terms will be familiar to the most casual fans of the game, while some will be mysterious to anyone not deeply ingrained in the lore of the sport.
Let’s start out nice and easy with some of the general terms you hear around the game. The lingo gets a little more ‘inside baseball’ as we move along, but I guess everyone with even a passing knowledge of the sport is familiar with dugouts and diamonds…
The pitcher has center-stage on the baseball field, surveying all around from his elevated position on the mound. Now see how many of these pitching-related expressions you recognize:
The pitcher may be the main man on the field, but the batters are the ones who put the scores on the board. Let’s delve into the vocabulary of the batters:
Dealing with non-dingers is the job of the fielder, who has a multitude of roles to play during the game. Here are some of the terms we associate with the defensive side of the game:
A less-heralded but no less important aspect of the game relates to running between the bases. Let’s see how baseball insiders talk about this part of the game:
Now for a big picture approach, where we step back and look at the strategy and culture around baseball.
If you learn anything today, it’s that a batter wearing a ‘golden sombrero’ (or worse yet, a ‘platinum’ one) has not had a good day at the office! Here are some general baseball expressions to close out our glossary:
Ross has been writing about sports for over a decade, spcecializing in the NFL, soccer and boxing. His written work has appeared on a number of online publications over that time.