Baseball Expressions We Use in Everyday Life …
(1) Sam “couldn’t get to first base” with Sally.
(2) Joe was in prison for life due to the “three strikes and you’re out” policy on three felony convictions.
(3) Tim and Bob were going to need “a homer in the bottom of the ninth” to keep their little burger joint open against the competition they faced from all the new corporate retailers.
(4) Selling that bad-running, but good-looking used sports car to that hungry-eyed, 21-year-old buyer for too much money this afternoon was salesman Tom’s “can of corn” deal of the day.
(5) Jack’s four-point business plan for the new corporate fiscal year received “grand slam” approval from this boss and the board of directors.
(6) Joe’s ideas for his company’s business plan, on the other hand, were rejected as too radical, too “out in left field”, if you please.
(7) “Double Play” Dolan was an old-fashioned politician. When he ran for office, he always promised the people more service and less taxation.
(8) Sales manager Sidney says to his commission-based land line phone service and reconditioned typewriter company sales staff: “You gotta have heart – miles and miles and miles of heart! – When the odds are saying you’ll never win – that’s when the grin should start! – You gotta have hope – mustn’t sit around and mope! – Nothing’s half as bad as it may appear – wait’ll next year and hope! – When your luck is batting zero – get your chin up off the floor! – Mister you can be a hero! – You can open any door! – There’s nothing to it – but to do it – FIRST – you gotta have heart!”
(9) Mary took an “intentional pass” on Harold’s invitation to the Star Trek Fans Convention.
(10) Harold later “struck out” with three Trekkie girls he tried to meet at the same convention.
(11) … And finally, for here, anyway – J.D. Salinger may or may not have had baseball in mind when he came up with this next title. – I don’t think you will even need the following picture to figure it out, even if it isn’t an expression from the game that we use every day. It’s still a phrase so closely associated with baseball that one of the game’s figures, Bob Uecker, even used a play on these same words as the title of his own autobiography.
Now that the barn door is open, please list your own favorite baseball expressions from everyday life as comments on this column. There’s no way we came even close to doing anything more than simply referencing a few of the more popular ones for the sake of getting things started.
And have a great, peaceful Sunday.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
July 28, 2013 at 1:30 pm |
“Batting a thousand”
July 28, 2013 at 4:46 pm |
“Line Drive” (sharp hit)
“Caught Looking” (took third strike w/o swinging)
“Letter High” (heigth of a pitch – on uniform)
“Tools of Ignorance” (Catcher’s gear)
“Heater” (fast ball)
July 28, 2013 at 6:28 pm |
Step up to the PLATE
This show is a HIT
July 28, 2013 at 6:34 pm |
Bill, being a lifelong railway enthusiast as well as a baseball fan, I have to point out that the term “doubleheader” has its origins in railroading when a heavy train might require the pulling power of two steam locomotives, resulting in a doubleheader. With the demise of steam locomotives one doesn’t hear this term in railroad circles anymore (Unless viewing old photographs of trains) and with owners always looking for ways to increase revenues, baseball doubleheaders are becoming few and far between as well.