Baseball Metaphors 101

First Pitch, Seventh Inning Stretch, Hit the Ball out of the Park, Pinch Hitter, Touch Base, Ballpark Estimate

Over the years, it has become apparent to me that Baseball holds a unique place in America’s soul. So much so that the ceremonial first pitch to mark the opening season of baseball is often thrown by a US President.

I grew up in India on a staple diet of cricket, and baseball seemed very unfamiliar to me at first. But learning about the similarities and differences with cricket helped. See my blog post on Cricket 101 Metaphors for those.

Seventh Inning Stretch

The first time I attended a baseball game, I was puzzled by the seventh inning stretch. The crowd got to their feet and started singing an unfamiliar song.

My friend told me that this tradition usually takes place in between the two halves of the seventh inning and is an opportunity for the players and the audience to take a break, stretch their legs and eat a snack. The crowd usually sings to the song Take Me Out To the Ball Game. True to the chorus, which talks about peanuts and crackerjack, they are some of the staples always offered at a baseball game, along with other food such as hot dogs, nachos and soda.

Baseball Metaphors and Idioms

My introduction to Baseball metaphors occurred early on when I was told by my manager to ‘hit the ball out of the park‘ when working on a marquee customer’s project. I started looking out of the windows for the park and wondering where the ball was.

In an effort to save others from similar embarrassment, below are examples of commonly used metaphors from the national sport of America.

Hit the Ball out of the Park

To hit the ball out of the park means to do something exceedingly well or to do a stellar job. It is also sometimes expressed as knock it out of the park. Baseball is a bat and ball game with two opposing teams. The team that wins is the one that scores the most runs. The venue where baseball is played is shaped like a diamond and is called the ballpark. To hit the ball out of the park means to hit a home run which lands outside of the ballpark flying over all of the spectator’s seats and landing outside the stadium.

Pinch Hitter

Another metaphor that originates from baseball is pinch hitter. In baseball, a pinch hitter is a batter used as a substitute for another batter, usually at a critical point.

Touch Base

How about being asked to touch base with a colleague at work to put a ballpark estimate together for an upcoming project? Baseball has a ‘Home Plate’ and three ‘Bases’ (First base, Second base, Third base ). Together, the bases form a diamond shape. The batter receives the pitch at the home plate and needs to touch 1st base, 2nd base and third base in sequence before returning to the home plate. The batter is then rewarded with a run.

Based on the above , the most common interpretation of touching base is to check in . There are other theories around the origin of this phrase, the most interesting one being the military one, where military units on a mission frequently connect with their base.

Ballpark estimate and ballpark figure mean the same – an approximation. The phrase your estimate is in the ballpark means that the estimate is in range. The phrase seems to have originated from the time when the commentator of a baseball game would estimate the size of the audience by looking around.

We’re not done yet. As famous baseball player Yogi Berra would say “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

I do hope I’m batting a thousand with my posts. You may think I’m trying to enter into the big leagues, but for now I’ll take a rain check on those. I’m really not trying to play hardball, just trying to write well for my readers and cover all my bases so I can hit a home run and it’s not a hit or miss situation. Life does sometimes throw a curve ball or things will come out of left field and catch me off base and I’ll give up writing before I reach first base. But I really need to step up to the plate and swing for the fences even though some of the things I’m writing about aren’t really in my wheelhouse before a whole new ballgame begins.

For many more metaphors, check out my blog post on Boxing Metaphors, Football Metaphors , Political Metaphors -Part I and Political Metaphors-Part II. In the blog post on Political Metaphors -Part II, I cover several examples of baseball metaphors being used in the world of politics.