The language of baseball, uniquely expressive and descriptive, is present throughout American English. It would be difficult to find any other area of American life that has contributed so many figures of speech, metaphors and idioms to the way Americans communicate. The color, snap and sizzle of the language of the national pastime isn't confined to how we talk about the game itself. Baseball also permeates how we talk about nearly everything else. Figures of speech invigorate both the game and the language. The game is made more fun when we say a team's hitters are a "Murderers' Row" striking dread in the hearts of opposing pitchers. In the same way, baseball goes to bat for American English generally. When we say we're going after an ambitious goal or objective, we don't just say we're going to try hard, we say we're going to "swing for the fences.

" This book is a guide to where these expressions came from and the variety of ways in which they're used, both in and beyond baseball.