(#101)
Here’s an excerpt from the 50th Anniversary Edition of Ball Four by Jim Bouton
Ball Four – July 22, 1969
I take this opportunity to present a lexicon of words and phrases encountered around baseball that are, more or less, unique to the game. There are a great many phrases having to do with a pitcher throwing at a hitter. Among them are:
Chin music, as in “Let’s hear a little chin music out there,” this being a suggestion that the pitcher throw the baseball near the batter’s chin.
Purpose pitch, which is a pitch that knocks a batter down purposely, or perhaps may just.
Spin his cap.
Keep him honest, which means, make the batter afraid if you can.
Loosen him up, meaning that if enough baseballs are thrown close to a hitter, he’ll fall down easily.
Other phrases that often come up in the conversations are:
Tweener, any ball hit not especially hard but directly between two outfielders, neither of whom can reach in time.
Take him over the wall, hit a home run, as in “Horton took Bouton over the wall in the fifth.”
Down the cock is the quintessence of the hitting zone. Any pitch like that is bound to be Juiced, with some kind of power.
Parts of the body also have special appellations:
Boiler, as in “he’s got a bad boiler,” or upset stomach.
Hose is an arm.
Moss is hair.
Shoes are kicks and clothes are vines, and when the bases are loaded they’re drunk. A good fielder can really pick it, and if you want to tell a guy to go sit down, it’s Go grab some bench. Organized baseball is O.B., and a stupid player has the worst head in O.B. Wheels are legs, and an infielder has the good hands or the bad hands as girls have good wheels and bad wheels. For some reason the definite article is important there. An angry man has the red ass or R.A.
Camp followers, whether they’re eleven or sixty-five or somewhere in between, are called Baseball Annies. And if a player, coach, or manager should bring a girl with him to another city, she’s called an import. If an import is a mullion, she may have to pay her own way.
A pimple or boil is called a bolt, as in “get a wrench for that bolt.” A hard line drive is a blue darter, frozen rope or an ungodly shot. To think is to have a idea, so that when a pitcher seems to losing his cool a coach might shout at him, “Have an idea out there.”
And a fellow who talks big but appears to lack courage is said to have an alligator mouth and a hummingbird ass.
Baseball is not without its charms.
My notes: I’ll think I’ll come up with my own lexicon of baseball words and phrases I’ve heard and/or through the years. Share some of your favorites with me in the comments below.
Ball Four is a great book. I can’t believe I’ve had over 50 years to read it, but just got to it. Perhaps baseball coaches just don’t read 540 page books too often.
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 