Baseball Terms

ACE (S) [The best pitcher on a team]

AVERAGE (S)

BACKSTOP (S)

BALK (S)

(BASE, BEAN, FAST, FORK, SCREW, SPIT) BALL (S)

BALLGAME (S)

BASE (S)

BAT (BOY, GIRL, S, SMAN, SMEN, TER, TING)

BATTERY [The pitcher and catcher on the field]

BENCH (ED, ES)

BULLPEN (S)

BUNT (ED, ER, ING, S)

CAP (S)

CATCH (ABLE, ER, ES, ING)

CHANGEUP (S)

CLOWNS [Negro league team that was the first professional team to have women on their team.]

COACH (ES, ING)

CURVE (S)

CYCLE (S)

DIAMOND (S)

DOUBLE (S)

DOUBLEHEADER (S)

DUGOUT (S)

ERA [Acronym for Earned Run Average]

ERROR (LESS, S)

FAIR

FIELD (ER, S)

FIRST (S)

FOUL (ED, S)

GIBSON [Played 17 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals earning 251 wins, 3117 strikeouts, and two Cy Young awards. In addition, he was the National League MVP in 1968 and twice won the World Series with the Cardinals (1964 & 1967). Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981.]

GLOVE (ED, S)

GRAYS [They won 10 pennants and the Negro World Series in 1943, 1944, and in 1948. Twelve players of the Grays were elected into the MLB Hall of Fame.]

HADDIX [Pirates pitcher, who on May 26 1959, pitched a perfect game for 12 2/3 innings against the Braves and still lost the game. His teammates forgot to score any runs for him. Nevertheless he won two games against the Yankees in the 1960 World Series and the Pirates won World Series. He also was an All Star 3X, Golden Glove winner 3X, and holds the MLB record for most consecutive batters retired in one game (36), established on May 26 1959.]

HELMET (S)

HIT (ABLE, TER, TERS, TING, S)

HOME (S)

HOMER (ED, ING, S)

HOME RUN (S)

INFIELD (ER, S)

INNING (S)

LINEUP (S)

LOB [Acronym for Left On Base]

MANAGER (S)

MANTLE [Known for his hitting ability, Mantle was the AL MVP 3X, All Star 16X, appeared in 12 World Series (winning 7 of them), and won the triple crown in 1956. Elected to Hall of Fame, 1974.]

MASK (S)

MITT (S)

MONARCHS [Jackie Robinson emigrated from this team to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946.]

MOUND (S)

OUT (S)

OUTFIELD (S)

OUTFIELDER (S)

PEACHES [The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was in existence from 1943-1954. This women’s team won the most titles with four.]

PENNANT (S)

PICKLE (S)

PICKOFF (S)

PITCH (ED, ER, ES, ING, OUT)

PLATE (S)

PLAY (ED, ER, OFF, S) RBI [Short for Runs Batted In] ''' RUBBER'''

RUN (DOWN, NER, ING, S)

RUTH [First batter to hit 60 homeruns in a season (1927), compiling a lifetime record of 714. He led the league in home runs (12X), slugging (13X), and RBI’s (6X). In 1936 he became one of the first 5 players to be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.]

SACRIFICE (S)

SAVE (S)

SCOREKEEPER (S)

SECOND

SHORTSTOP (S)

SHUTOUT (S)

SIGNAL (S)

SINGLE (S) SINKER (S)

SLIDER (S)  SLIDING

SLUGGING [The slugging percentage of a hitter is calculated as the total bases he reaches (by hitting or walking) divided by the number of at bats. The maximun score is 4.]

SLUGGER (S)

SOUTHPAW (S) [A left-handed pitcher]

SPIDERS [In 1899 this professional baseball team set the record for the having the worst season in baseball with 20 wins and 134 losses. It was their last year in existence.]

STADIUM (S)

STEAL (ING, S)

STRIKE (OUT, S)

TAG (GED, GING,S)  THIRD

TRIPLE (S)

UMP (IRE, IRED, S)

UNIFORM (S)

WALK (ED, ING, S)

WINDUP (S)

YOUNG [Starting with the Spiders (not an auspicious beginning) he played for 21 years with different teams. He established several lifetime MLB records: most wins (511), most innings pitched (7355), most career games started (815), most complete games (749), and the most losses (316). A year after Young’s death, the Cy Young Award was created to honor the season’s best pitcher.]