What in the word?

Baseball isn’t just America’s pastime — it’s also a linguistic MVP. Over the past 150 years, the sport has enriched our everyday conversations with phrases that most people use without even stepping inside a stadium. If you’ve ever been “in the right ballpark” or “covered all the bases,” then you’ve spoken the language of baseball. These idioms remind us how deeply culture and sports are intertwined — and how a game can shape the way we speak, think, and connect. So, without further ado, let’s explore nine of our favorite baseball-inspired idioms that have made it into our everyday speech!

1. Hit the ball out of the park

Scored big on a work presentation? Nailed that final exam? Then someone might’ve said you “hit it out of the park.”

This baseball-inspired idiom meaning to achieve a resounding success comes from home runs, where a batter hits a fair ball and scores on the play, such as Bobby Thomson’s 1951 walk-off home run for the Giants that came to be known as “the shot heard ’round the world.”

2. Cover all the bases

To “cover all the bases” means to be thorough — to prepare for every scenario, leaving nothing to chance.

In baseball, if the team at bat covers all the bases (or has the “bases loaded”), they have runners on first, second, and third base, giving them the most possible opportunities to score points. If a batter were to hit a home run in this scenario, it would be called a “grand slam.”

3. Throw a curveball

If life “throws you a curveball,” it delivers an unexpected (and often unpleasant) twist or challenge you will have to overcome.

This idiom is (naturally) inspired by the unpredictable trajectory of a curveball, a “breaking” pitch that bends across the strike zone and is notoriously difficult to hit. Quite a fitting mental image!

4. In the right ballpark

Not quite right, but close enough? You’re “in the right ballpark.” This idiom, as well as similar phrases like “in the same ballpark,” “ballpark figures,” and “ballpark estimate,” reflects rough approximations.

While “ballpark” obviously comes from baseball, the origin of its figurative use is much less clear. Some claim that it originated in the U.S. space program in 1960, referring to a specific region of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii that was used as a satellite recovery area. However, evidence suggests that “ballpark” was already being used figuratively by the 1940s.

5. Out in/of left field

Got an idea that’s…well, a little weird? Someone might say it’s “out in left field.” This sense of “out of touch with reality” is attested from the 1940s, from the distant, often isolated outfield position.

In turn, if something comes “out of left field,” it might be an unexpected hit! Music historian Arnold Shaw noted in 1949 that the phrase was first used by the music industry to describe songs that became hits with little to no promotion, seemingly emerging “from out of nowhere.” The expression likely draws on the image of a left fielder hurling the ball to home plate, catching the runner off guard with a ball coming from outside their field of vision.

6. Play hardball

When someone’s “playing hardball,” they’re being tough, unyielding, and competitive.

Though no game is technically called hardball, the term has long been slang for baseball, especially as a way to distinguish the sport from softball. The figurative sense of “hardball,” which traces back to the early 1970s, is especially common in politics, referring to the use of Machiavellian and often ruthless strategies to achieve a goal.

7. Step up to the plate

The idiom “step up to the plate” means to take responsibility, rise to meet a challenge, or even take action when something difficult needs to be done.

In baseball, players literally step up to the plate (home plate, that is) when it is their turn to bat, as in Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s iconic poem “Casey at the Bat.”

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

— Ernest Lawrence Thayer, “Casey at the Bat”
(Read the full poem at poetryfoundation.org)

8. Touch base

To “touch base” is to get in contact or reconnect with someone briefly — maybe even “get on the same page” as them, to use another idiom — typically in a business setting.

The phrase originally comes from ballplayers needing to touch each of the three bases before running back to home plate in order to score — and doing so before the ball or tag gets there!

9. Out of your league

Ever feel like someone or something is just way above your level? You might be “out of your league.” This expression is often used to refer to people who are trying (and typically failing) to succeed in an area where they are facing superior competition.

While many sports have leagues, the phrase originally comes from baseball, where Major League Baseball represents the highest level of professional play and minor leagues are ranked below. A player that is “out of their league” would be competing in a league above their level of ability.