WebBall.com - Baseball Glossary

Our collection of baseball terms

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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
K for strikeout	Henry Chadwick, newspaper journalist, created the scorecard / boxscore. He invented the fielder numbers (pitcher as 1, right field as 9), and abbreviations - (HR, HBP, BB,). With S for sacrifice, he chose K because it was the last letter of 'struck' which was used then more than 'strikeout'. Other uses of K include K/BB - Strikeout/Walk Ratio and K/9 - Strikeouts per Nine Innings. Backwards 'K' is used by some scorekeepers for a caught looking and by others for a dropped third strike (requiring tag or throw to first)
Keystone	Second base - the keystone in an arch is the larger locking stone at the top
Kitchen	The inner half of the plate as in "that pitch was up in his kitchen". Source unknown.
Knuckle Dragger	A pitcher who throws from an extreme side arm, body bent over so that his hand is almost dragging the ground
Knuckleball	Pitch gripped with knuckles bent and fingernails dug into a seam. The ball is pushed out by the fingertips to minimize rotation and allow air through the seams to make the ball appear to dance or flutter. (Also called a flutterball.)")