Softball. As in, “tossing a-.”
Horse racing:
Dark horse
Odds-on favorite
From scratch (from nothing)
By a nose
Win in a walk
Handicap (though from earlier games of chance)
Hot to trot (the “trot” portion)
Other sports:
Switch gears (bicycle and later auto racing)
“Pit stop,” from auto racing.
This gives me an idea–to see if I can work curling expressions into common conversation. At my next staff meeting, I’m going to say things like, “Let’s see if we can sweep this one into the house”, or “We can make this work if we can get around the guard rocks put down by Accounting”.
More boxing:
Heavyweight/Lightweight
One-Two punch
Didn’t know what hit him
Up against the ropes
Go the distance
Take the gloves off
Lead with your chin
Hit below the belt
Low blow
Beaten to the punch
Come out swinging
Pull your punches
Roll with the punches
Pound for pound
Saved by the bell
Take a dive
Throw in the towel
Ringside seat
Wrestling:
Go to the mat
No Holds Barred
In the clinch
ETA: Crap, I think almsot everything I thought of was already on the wikipedia page!
Half of the suggestions in this thread are unknown outside the US.
Some more:
Scrum
Hand of God
Jockeying for position
Snookered
Checkmate (last two are debatable, depending on how strict with the definition of sport you’re being).
“No holds barred” is a good example of an idiom that I didn’t know was from wresting. Same thing for “pound for pound” and boxing.
Yeah, I should have mentioned in the OP that American idioms might differ from the rest of the world (e.g., places where baseball and American football aren’t popular.) It’s interesting to hear what the idioms are in other countries. I didn’t know that “hat trick” was an idiom from soccer/football and cricket. :o To me, it’s a hockey term (ice hockey).
And baseball. 3 strikeouts in a game, and you don “the golden sombrero”. I’ve heard various combinations of 3 singles, doubles, triples, and home runs referred to as hat tricks as well. If I had to guess, I’d say that single-double-triple is the most common combination that it refers to.
Cricket originally, I believe - a player for an all-English XI took three wickets in as many balls and a collection was taken up. He was bought a new hat with the proceeds, and this then became the default award for completing this feat.
I think that there have only been about 35 in 133 years of test matches, so they’re not common.
Three more:
Hit for six
Played with a dead bat/Dead-batted/Played it back to the bowler
Retired to the pavilion
I had to google “hit for six” and some of the other idioms from cricket. I did know sticky wicket, though.
Google is failing me on “Played with a dead bat/Dead-batted/Played it back to the bowler”
Apparently, “dead bat” is similar to a bunt in baseball, but can someone clarify what the idiom means outside of sports?
Source: LetThemTalk Paris: English Idioms from Cricket
up stumps and retire to the pavilion - this seems to be equivalent to “let’s call it a day” - Stumps is used as a term to mean the end of a day’s play, e.g. “The umpires called stumps” means that the umpires declared play over for the day. At the end of a session, i.e. before lunch or tea, the umpires will remove the bails; at the end of the day’s play, the umpires will remove the stumps.”
The pavilion is the particular building where the players will then go for refreshments.
Nope, I’m stumped for an answer. I’ll let someone else field it.
“The Straight Dope” from horse racing.
It’s also used in baseball, meaning a player who strikes out three times in one game. Four times is a “golden sombrero”.
Can anybody tell me what it is about the left field in baseball that inspires the phrase ‘out of left field’?
The phrase is “way out in left field.” It refers to someone whose beliefs are far out of the mainstream. I’ve always suspected that it comes from schoolyard baseball, where they might put a poor defensive player to keep him as far from the action as possible.
BTW, I’ve been a baseball fan for decades. I’ve seen many games on TV and have heard many others on radio. I read several baseball books a year. I had never heard the term “hat trick” applied to anything in baseball until now, nor had I heard of a “golden sombrero”.
I’m sure in Britain people say ‘out of left-field’, but then most of us have never even seen a game of baseball :D.
“Performed exceptionally well”. The equivalent in baseball would be hitting an home run.
“Dealt with defensively, ensuring that - while there was no attempt to take advantage of the situation or turn it into a positive - the situation did not get worse.”
‘They started asking me about what caused the explosion, but I dead-batted it by saying that I couldn’t remember anything.’
Problem is, right-handed batters tend to hit towards left field, and there are more righties than lefties, so if you have a non-athletic player that league rules force you to play at least two innings a game, you stick him in right field (AKA the Siberia of little league baseball). Ideally, left fielders should at least have some arm strength, because it’s a lot harder to throw to first base from left field than from right.
Oh, and more on topic: Southpaw for a wrong-handed person, although you rarely hear it nowadays.
Right field is so much the Siberia of little league and rec leagues that some of the more talented hitters will deliberately place their hits to right field, expecting that the weakest fielder will play there. In those leagues, a right fielder who has a good arm and can actually catch and field ground balls can be a bit of a secret weapon.
-Sidney, out in right field 