Around the Horn

Many of us associate this with motion of when a pitcher strikes out a batter with no men on base and proceeds to throw the ball to third baseman who in turns throws to second base and finally onto first base.

Around The Horn actually refers to a double play in which the third baseman fields a ground ball and throws to the second baseman, who forces a runner at second base and then throws to the first baseman to retire the batter. Thus resulting in the 5-4-3 double play. The term derives from the custom of ships to take the long route around Cape Horn at the tip of South America to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, or vice versa, before the construction of the Panama Canal.

Can of corn

The phrase can of corn refers to qan easy fly ball, it was first used in 1896, makes reference to a long-ago practice where a grocer would use a stick to tip a can of vegetables off a high shelf, then catch it in his hands or outstretched apron. Another possible source: Such a pop fly is as easy to capture as "corn from a can."

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Frequently used by Chicago White Sox broadcaster Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson. Also, a phrase used in the expression of mild excitement, general agreement or indication from one person to another that completion of said task is in order. Mike Zolk, from Frankford High School in Philadelphia, coined the phrase in 1936 in a game against NorthEast High.

Texas Rangers TV announcer Bill Land once called an easily-caught fly ball in a game incorrectly by stating, "It's a cornucopia!" In the background, you could hear color commentator, Tom Grieve mumbling "can...of...corn.." It is not uncommon to hear fans in the lower rows of Section 15 at Ameriquest Field in Arlington yelling "CORNUCOPIA!"

Out of Left Field

How many time in normal conversation have your heard the expression out of left field. Many time when talking with people and some one makes a statement non pertinent to the topic you might say where did that come from left field. Many of us use this phrase but no one knows the true origin. I found two equally plausible theories.

The first theory pertains to people wanting to watch Babe Ruth play at Yankee Stadium but not sure which position he played. They would end up buying tickets for the left field bleachers while the Babe was in right field. Fans in right field would yell over to left field fans how they were out of step with baseball.

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Another realistic explanation comes from an extinct baseball park called West Side Grounds that the Chicago Cubs called home from 1893 to 1915. As legend has it, a mental hospital called the Neuropsychiatric Institute was located directly behind the left field wall. The Institute housed mental patients who could be heard making strange and bizarre comments within listening distance of players and fans. Thus, if someone said that you were “way out in left field,” the person was questioning your sanity and comparing you with a mental patient. Other versions of this same theory has the hospital being built over the left field area of West Side Grounds after it was torn down.

The Baltimore Chop

The longevity of some expression show us how baseball has really become an integral part of our world after many decades. The Baltimore Chop was a hitting technique used by batters during Major League Baseball's dead ball era. This technique was an important element of John McGraw's "Inside baseball". Popularized and named after the original Baltimore Orioles, the batter would intentionally hit the ball downward to the hard ground in front of home plate, resulting in a high bounce which allowed the batter to reach first base safely before the opposing team could field it. To give the ball the maximum bounce, Baltimore grounds keeper Tom Murphy not only packed the dirt tightly around home plate, but mixed it with hard clay. Speedy Orioles players like John McGraw, Joe Kelley, Steve Brodie, and Wee Willie Keeler — who once legged out a double off a Baltimore chop — were the practitioners and perfectors of the hit.

The technique is rarely employed in modern baseball, but sometimes results accidentally when a batter swings over the ball and it catches the bat.

Knock Out of The Box

In the earliest days of baseball, there was no rubber at the pitcher's mound. Pitchers stood inside a six-foot square that looked much like today's batter's box. The front line of the box was only 45 feet from the plate. (The batters were also allowed to call their pitches -- high, low or fair.) The pitcher had to start his motion from within the box as well as release the ball before leaving the box. By the way the pitch had to be thrown underhand

In 1881 the rules moved the front of the box to 50 feet from the rear point of home plate. In 1884 pitchers were allowed to throw overhand.

In 1887, the box was set at 4 feet wide and 5 1/2 feet deep, with the front edge still 50 feet from the plate. However, the pitcher was compelled to deliver the ball with his back foot at the 55 1/2 foot line of the box, thus somewhat restricting his ability to "power" the ball with his overhand delivery.

In 1893, the box was replaced by the pitcher's plate, although the term "knocked out of the box" is still sometimes used when a pitcher is replaced for ineffectiveness. Exactly 5 feet was added to the point the pitcher had to toe, again "to increase the batting" (and hopefully to increase attendance, as fan interest had flagged somewhat), resulting in the seemingly peculiar pitching distance of 60 1/2 feet.

Many sources tend to say that the pitching distance evolved from 45 to 50 to 60 1/2 feet. However, the first two were the "release point" and the third is the "pushoff point", so the 1893 increase was not quite as dramatic as is often implied; that is, the 1893 rule change added only 5 feet to the release point, not 10 1/2 feet.

It became a common expression to say that the pitcher was knocked out of the box when the opposing team constantly hit his pitchers forcing the manager to remove the pitcher from the game.

The Fly Ball

Last Night I was sitting attending my son's Little League game. I overhead a little boy asking his mother what do they with all the insects they catch? The bewildered mother looked at the youngster and with a puzzled look asked the boy what did he mean. The boy replied that the coach keeps yelling catch that FLY. As the mother tried to explain that a ball hit that does not touch the ground is called a fly ball and that the coach shorten it to just FLY, I realized that baseball has it's own language.

To help explain many of the words and phrases used in baseball I decided to have some fun by writing this blog. I hope you enjoy it and return for future. Yogi Berra and Casey Stengel may have had funny quips about the game but innocent children point out the not so obvious. If you have any funny or amusing interpretation of baseball lingo please feel free to write a comment.

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