’Pen Pal

By PAL ELDREDGE

Monday, June 25, 2001

---

You may like these
funny terms, Meat!

LIKE so many subcultures, baseball has a language all its own. There are literally thousands of terms used by sportscasters, coaches, players and fans. Some terms are easily explained, some are self-explaining and some are extremely difficult to relate to.

Here are more of "Pal's Picks," this time about my favorite terms used in baseball. Some are my favorite because of what they describe, and some are favorites because they're just plain funny words.

1. "Bush League." This describes someone who comes from the lower classifications of baseball -- the Bush Leagues. Nowadays, it's more often used to describe someone or something with little or no class.

2. "Sunday hop." This term describes a ground ball that is easy to field, a big hop. It relates to good things that are usually associated with Sundays.

3. "Rope" or "frozen rope." Describes how hard a ball is hit. A rope is a line drive of maximum proportions.

4. "Yacker." Now this is a funny word. A yacker describes a curve ball, usually a real good one: "How about the yacker the guy is throwing!"

5. "Knubber." Another funny word. This is a soft-hit ball, often from the end of the bat.

6. "Moxie." This is a rather old term that means tough: "The guy showed some moxie getting up there when he was hurt."

7. "Uncle Charlie." The curve ball. The bane of many hitters. Most guys can hit the fast ball, but Uncle Charlie separates the men from the boys.

8. "Herky jerky." Funny words that describe the rough motion of a pitcher.

9. "Chin music." A pitch close to the chin: "Pedro Martinez threw some chin music to Jeter on that pitch."

10. "Bonehead play." This describes a mistake, usually a dumb one: "What a bonehead play that was."

11. "Balk." Another funny word. A balk is called by an umpire when he feels the pitcher has intentionally made a move to deceive the runner.

12. "Gopher ball." A long ball. Something that the players have to go a long way to catch, or it can mean a home run. This probably came about to describe a player having to "go for" the ball.

13. "Fungo." The bat a coach uses to hit ground balls or fly balls to the players. I have no idea where this came from, and I've researched it.

14. "Bomb," "Jack," "Dinger." And other terms used to describe a home run.

15. "Cheese." A good fast ball. I swear that when the term was first out, it described a curve ball that was like "stink cheese." But now it describes the heater.

AND NOW my all-time favorite baseball word. If you've played for me or coached with me, you'll recognize this word because I've probably called you it: "Meat!"

Meat is a ballplayer. It's a term I use in conversation on the field. "Nice play, Meat," or "Way to go, Meat," or "You gotta be kidding me, Meat!"

If you like baseball terms, get The Dickson Baseball Dictionary. It has over 5,000 baseball terms in it and Dickson tells where they came from and how they are used.

Interesting stuff.

---

Pal Eldredge is a baseball commentator for KFVE
and former varsity baseball coach at Punahou School.
His column runs Mondays during the Major League Baseball season.
Star-Bulletin sports can be reached at 529-4785 or: sports@starbulletin.com