I was about to add it. Anything automatic, inevitable, unstoppable, “Tinker to Evans to Chance.”
Is the expression “four-tool player” ever used? Or 3 tools, etc?
I can easily see how I can use that term in this piece.
A true Cubs fan and romantic. [While I seem to have turned into a Management Drone.]
Now that the Red Sox are winners, the Cubs are all baseball fans have left.
In 60 years of closely following baseball, I have never heard anything except “five tool”.
Interviewers are often criticized for asking “softball” questions (though I suppose that’s from softball, not baseball – though there is the MSNBC news show “Hardball.” And “playing hardball” means “acting tough.”
If you want really obscure, there’s LOOGY – Lefty One Out GuY. It’s a lefhanded pitcher brought in to pitch to a single lefthanded batter, and I could see the metaphor being used elsewhere when you pick someone to do a tough job and get out.
“Bullpen” often is used to mean a group of workers who can be called on as needed.
“Touch all the bases” means to complete all the steps necessary to finish a job. “Touch base” also means “to get in contact.”
“Screwball” started out in cricket and later baseball before becoming a term for a crazy person.
First, are you asking us to do your homework? 
[sub]I keed[/sub]
Where are you that you have a Redbirds team?
Memphis. I’m a freelance writer and I was asked to include baseball allusions in a piece I’m working on.
I could see using “three tool” or “four tool”, again in a derogatory manner. Making the point that someone ISN’T a complete player. Like you though I haven’t actually heard anyone use either one.
Hell, my least favorite player on my favorite team, Jason Giambi, is a one-tool player. He can hit for power and that is about it.
Skald, is any of this stuff potentially useful?
Already used it, thanks!
You guys should feel free to continue the discussion, but I personally have what I need.
I’ve never heard this term. Wouldn’t a 12-6 pitch be straight down the middle with no curving at all?
However, someone tossing a curve ball at you (meaning putting you in a difficult situation) is a very common metaphor.
A curveball doesn’t necessarily curve to the left or right; it does always curve down (ie., it’s thrown with topspin). The idea is to get it to cut under the bat, not in or out.
A famous double-play combo. Tinker was shortstop, Evers on second base, Chance at first. I think. No, I didn’t look it up (which is why there’s probably something factually incorrect about it) and I’m a Rockies fan, as hard as that is this season.
Rubber Arm - a pitcher that can throw many piteches without tiring
Pepper — Pepper is a common pre-game exercise in baseball, where one player bunts brisk ground balls and line drives to a group of fielders who are standing close by
Cleanup hitter - The fourth batter in the lineup, usually a power hitter.
Taking infield - The pre-game fielding practice.
BP Pitcher - Batting Practice pitcher - someone who throws soft tosses for hitters to tee off on in pre-game warm-ups. In a game, if a pitcher is getting lit up by the opponents, he’s said to be ‘throwing BP’.
A couple of my favorites are:
“Good field, no hit” - someone who does one thing well, but does the other thing so terribly as to be useless on the whole.
“5 o’clock hitter” - someone who does well in batting practice, but not so well when the pressure is on in the actual game.
Banjo Hitter - Hitter with little power
Also “slap hitter”.
Hey Skald, any chance of linking us with the article once it is published?
No. It’s work for hire (i.e., I don’t own the copyright) and I’m almost certain that it won’t show up anywhere but the company’s intranet and internal documents.
Hitting for the cycle is hitting a single, double, triple and home run in the same game.