Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INSIDE-BASEBALL

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connect this word to others: From a 1942 issue of Baseball Digest: "It had been a game of ‘inside baseball’, a tightly-played contest for single runs—stolen bases, squeeze plays, placement hitting." I have no clue what squeeze plays or placement hitting are*. To me, they're inside baseball: fine details that mean nothing to me but everything to the baseballers, to the people on the inside--or, according to Nicole, a baseball fan who chimed in with this idea, to the people playing in, and strategizing from, the infield. "Inside-baseball" is a relaxed, down-to-earth kind of word, one we can apply to any topic, not just baseball. When you need a synonym that's loftier and more academic, you might pick abstr__e, re____ite, or eso___ic. *However, I will now look those terms up, because that's how I roll. According to Wikipedia, a squeeze play is "a maneuver consisting of a sacrifice bunt with a runner on third base. The batter bunts the ball, expecting to be thrown out at first base, but providing the runner on third base an opportunity to score." But placement hitting appears to be too inside-baseball for Wikipedia, and I spent way too long fruitlessly Googling it. Luckily, you readers are the best, and many of you chimed in to supply a definition. Stefan wrote, "The idea [behind positional hitting] is to put the ball where it would be the most advantageous. The easiest way to think of this is for a batter with a runner on second to hit the ball to right field--either in the air for an out or on the ground for a base hit. The reason for this is so the runner on 2nd can advance to third on an out or have a chance to score if a hit (b/c the throw is longer)." And Greg added, "Placement hitting--simply the ability to hit a ball to a specific spot. Yogi Bera: 'hit 'em where they ain't.'" (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "INSIDE-BASEBALL" Like it sounds, something inside-baseball involves very detailed and methodical tactics for playing baseball--or doing anything else. In other words, inside-baseball things are so detailed, so specific, or so technical that they're interesting or understandable only to people on the inside of whatever process or little world those things are in.   Pronunciation: IN side BASE ball Part of speech: When you use the hyphen, "inside-baseball" is an adjective: "this inside-baseball story," "that inside-baseball footnote." And when you write it as two separate words, "inside baseball" is a noun: "that's all just inside baseball," "we can skip this inside baseball." However, some writers ignore all this inside-baseball grammar and use "inside baseball" as an adjective. So feel free to do the same. Other forms: none How to use it: Even if your listeners haven't heard this word, they'll understand what you mean when you talk about inside-baseball facts, terms, aspects, information, perspectives, methods, strategies, conversations, debates, conflicts, drama, anecdotes, explanations, theories, and so on. The tone can be a bit negative: when you call something "inside-baseball," you might be dismissing it as trivial, even a waste of time. But you can just as easily use "inside-baseball" to compliment someone's knowledge, expertise, or insights. "Inside-baseball" applies to any context, not just baseball or athletics. There's always inside-baseball stuff in every broad sphere (political, educational, psychological, etc.) and in every hobby and interest (gardening, photography, origami, baby geese juggling, etc.). examples: "[Senator Edward M. Kennedy] chairs endlessly boring hearings...then cuts through testimony with inside baseball jokes that no visitors understand but laugh at anyway."    — Myra Mac-Pherson, Washington Post, 1978 (as referenced by the New York Times in 1988) "Lenny Bruce, once again ahead of the curve, spent almost ten minutes of his Carnegie Hall show educating the audience about what it's like to do stand-up in different kinds of clubs. In 1961, that was pretty inside-baseball. But fifty-odd years later, there were so many sitcoms about the life of a stand-up comic..."    — Ken Jennings, Planet Funny, 2018 has this page helped you understand "inside-baseball"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "inside-baseball" without saying "overly technical" or "full of insider details." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "_____ (is/are) filled with inside-baseball (tips, facts, trivia, strategies, etc.)." Example: "The second DVD is filled with inside-baseball trivia: how the animation was created, how many voice actors were fired before production and why." If you like, use this space to draft your sentence. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month is Distinctive Definitions. We're taking a scenic slog through poetic and philosophical definitions, wading through similes, metaphors, personifications, hyperboles, grandiloquence, and cheesiness.  In each issue, consider a definition provided by a poet, a writer, or a philosopher, and see if you can name the definiendum: the thing or concept being defined. (Is it life, love, time, death, music, sleep, pain, laughter, bubblegum, stubbing your toe…???) For example, James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) said, "What men call ________ and the Gods call dross." He’s defining something—what is it? "Treasure." Now, you can play this game in earnest, trying to think of what the poet actually wrote--or you can play it for laughs, supplying the silliest or most sarcastic answer you can muster.  To take the silliness to the next level, gather your friends or family, deal each person a hand of cards from your copy of Apples to Apples (great for kids) or Cards Against Humanity (not for kids!!), and enjoy the ensuing hilarity. (In these games, players take turns being the judge for each round, picking the funniest from everyone’s submissions.) "What men call stretch limos and the Gods call dross." "What men call Morgan Freeman's voice and the Gods call dross." From the previous issue: Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914) (the poet, not the actor) said,    "_____'s but one more to-morrow." Answer: Death. Try this one today: Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775-1854) said, "Since it is music in space, as it were a frozen music... If _____ in general is frozen music." review this word: 1. The opposite of INSIDE-BASEBALL is A. OUTER-LIMIT. B. ULTIMATE-FRISBEE. C. COMMON-KNOWLEDGE. 2. He's using some inside-baseball strategy, _____. A. constantly breaking the rules B. racking up points but mystifying the audience C. one that's as old and familiar as the game itself 1. C 2. B a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.