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32 replies

Baseball Sayings I Don't Quite Understand....

fenwaysouthfenwaysouth10,000+ posts
Last week, my wife and I were at our son's JV game. Our pitcher (and neighbor) was throwing pretty well. The other team couldn't catch up to his fastball, and it was pretty quick half innings for us. As we're coming off the field, one of the parents yells "Way to throw the pill". I'd only heard that one other time at a college showcase when a coach was talking to my oldest son with a real southern accent. The saying stuck in my head, and it has been a running joke with my wife and I.

Does anyone know where this saying ("throw the pill") came from, and do you have other baseball sayings that need explanation?

"I'm not a Republican or a Democrat.  I'm a member of the Cocktail Party." - Anonymous

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scdiggerscdigger500+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Harv:
New WHITE baseballs are sometimes referred to as "pills" as opposed to the olders browned up ones. Coaches like to preserve their white practice balls...."pills"...for pitching practice before they head into the standard practice ball bucket.


Have never called them "pills"...we've ALWAYS called new balls "pearls".
Three BaggerThree Bagger1,000+ posts
Kaizen is correct about the origin of "can of corn".
It was first used in the 1890's and was a fairly common expression in the 1960's when I was playing.

It also was not uncommon at that time (1960's) to say, "That guy was throwing aspirin tablets", which means he was throwing so hard the ball looked small just like in the expression about the "pill".
LB luv baseball5,000+ posts
Baltimore Chop originated in the late 1800's when the original Baltimore Orioles packed the area around home plate so that it was rock hard and would intenionally chop down on the swing to try to make the ball bounce high off the hard dirt and beat the rap at 1st.

Texas Leaguer has something to do with the old minor league that was called the Texas League and the hitting wasn't very good. So any bloop hits were Texas League hits rather than line drives you'd get from hitters in better leagues.
piaa_umppiaa_ump5,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by GsKaWa:
Our manager for our fall ball team used to tell the umpire, "It was only a strike because you called it a strike!"

Not a saying but it used to rile up the umpire!!


At least he was right about that....Bill Klem, the great MLB umpire from 1905 to the 40's invented umpire signals, always said.....

"It aint nothin until I call it....."

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