Perhaps the most colorful slang words in all of sports are found in the game of baseball.  The game has been around more than 180 years, so there has been plenty of time for players, fans, and sportswriters to think up special words that are only used in baseball.

 

Slang words such as slugger and masher are used to refer to a batter who hits a lot of homeruns.  When a batter strikes out swinging, he whiffed or got fanned.  If the batter smacks a hard-hit line drive, that’s called a frozen rope.  If a batter hits a Texas leaguer, he has hit a bloop that drops between an infielder and outfielder.  If a player hits a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game, he has hit for the cycle.  Once on base, a runner gets a green light if he is given permission from the manager to try to steal a base.

 

There are many slang words to describe the home run.  Slang words for this most exciting play in baseball -- when a batter hits the ball fair over the fence -- include homer, jack, tater, whammy, and dinger.  Different types of home runs also have slang names.  A moonshot is a home run hit so high and deep that it is said to travel toward the moon.  A bomb is also a long home run.  A walk-off is a home run hit in the home team’s last half inning which automatically wins the game.

 

There are other slang words for the batter.  When he is is next in line to get up to the plate – also called the dish – he is on-deck.  The batter waiting to hit behind the on-deck batter is in the hole.  Sometimes batters get plunked or hit by a pitch.

 

Pitchers also have colorful language in baseball.  The pitcher’s mound is called the hill and the bump.  The team’s best starting pitcher is the ace.  An easy pitch to hit, usually thrown right down the middle of the plate, is called a meatball.  A pitch thrown near the batter’s head is called chin music, and the best pitch a pitcher throws when he wants to strike someone out is his bread and butter pitch.

 

There are even slang words to describe the fans.  When the crowd shows its disapproval by booing, they give a Bronx cheer, and fans who sit on the benches in the outfield stands are called bleacher bums.

 

The next time you are at a baseball game or are watching and listening to a baseball broadcast, see how many slang words you can pick up.