WebBall.com - Baseball Glossary

Our collection of baseball terms

Select from the alphabet. If you don't find a term you need explained, or you know a good baseball phrase that you think should be here, please send us an email (mail icon bottom of page).

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y

Phrase	Definition
Ace	A team's best starting pitcher
Across the seams	When a pitching grip has the fingertips at 90 degrees to the seams on the baseball. (vs a finger on the long seam) In truth there is only one seam
Air out	(AO) in scorekeeping, any out recorded when defensive player catches the ball before it lands on the ground - in other words a flyball or pop-up
Alley	The section of the outfield between the outfielders - right-center and left-center. Also called 'the gap'
Anterior	The front side or forward facing part of anything, so when you hear about an ACL injury it's the Anterior Cruciate Ligament - a connection from the front of the knee joint and crossing the interior. Cruciate means cross. There's also a PCL but we shouldn't have to tell anyone what posterior means.
Appeal	The act of a fielder in claiming violation of the rules by the offensive team. Must be done before the next pitch
Around the horn	A double play from third baseman to second to first. It's the longest way to make a double play - from the long sailing route around the horn of Africa from England to India. (Don't ask.)")
Aspirin	A small white pill - hence a fastball that's hard to see. (And it gives batters headaches, we suppose.)
Assist	(A) in scorekeeping, earned by a defensive player who handles the ball on an out but is not the one who puts out a runner. Not counted if the play results in an error
At bat	(AB) in scorekeeping, number of times a player has been up to bat. Not counting plate appearances which resulted in a walk, sacrifice hit or sacrifice fly or error. Note: a batted ball which results in fielder's choice out does count as an AB against the batter
AVG	In scorekeeping the offical abbreviation for Batting Average