English Sports Terminology – Baseball

MASARYK UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Education

Department of English Language and Literature

Lifelong Learning - Upper Secondary School Teacher Training

English Sports Terminology – Baseball

Final Thesis

Brno 2021

Supervised by: Written by: doc. Mgr. Olga Dontcheva-Navrátilová, Mgr. Kateřina Lišková Ph.D.

Declaration:

I declare that I have written this final thesis by myself and used only the sources listed in the bibliography.

Acknowledgement:

I would like to express my thanks to doc. Mgr. Olga Dontcheva-Navrátilová, Ph.D. for her kind help, comments and guidance.

CONTENTS

1. Introduction ...... 6

2. Theoretical part ...... 8

2.1. Sports jargon ...... 8

2.1.1. Dictionaries and publications focusing on sport ...... 9

2.2. Basic linguistic terms ...... 9

2.3. Lexicon and its sources ...... 11

2.3.1. Native vocabulary ...... 11

2.3.2. Foreign borrowings ...... 12

2.3.3. Changes in lexical structure ...... 13

2.4. Word formation ...... 13

2.4.1. Conversion ...... 14

2.4.2. Abbreviations ...... 15

2.4.3. Baseball abbreviations ...... 16

2.5. Changes of meaning ...... 17

2.5.1. Metaphorical phrases ...... 17

3. Empirical part ...... 20

3.1. Game principle and history ...... 20

3.1.1. Principle of the game ...... 20

3.1.2. Baseball in the world ...... 20

3.1.3. Baseball in the Czech Republic ...... 21

3.1.4. Members ...... 21

3.2. Survey methodology ...... 22

3.2.1. Aim and hypotheses ...... 23

3.2.2. Questionnaire ...... 24

3.2.3. Respondents ...... 26

3.3. Survey results ...... 27

3.3.1. Processing questionnaire data ...... 27

3.3.2. Actual results arising out of the questionnaire ...... 28

3.3.3. Vindication/refutation of the hypotheses ...... 41

4. Conclusion ...... 43

References ...... 45

Appendixes ...... 49

1. INTRODUCTION

Baseball originates from the United States where it is very popular and belongs to the top three most popular spectator sports to watch, and along with softball it also has one of the highest numbers among active players in the United States. However, in the Czech Republic it is not so well known by the general public. It is overshadowed by football and ice hockey. When watching football or ice hockey, the majority of Czech citizens know what the match is about. However, if a newcomer attends their first ever baseball game, they might be completely lost and puzzled. The same applies to baseball terminology. If there is a football term mentioned, the Czech general public understands, as football words are around us even if we are not fans of the sport. We can hear about it unintentionally every day on TV news, at work from colleagues, boys and men of different ages use them when talking to each other on a daily basis. Football pitches can be found in almost every small village of the Czech Republic. Baseball has this prominent position in the States and baseball fields can be found in the majority of American neighbourhoods. It is an essential part of American culture.

Logically, the terminology of baseball is based on English and contains a large number of anglicisms in other languages. The rules are quite complicated with many exceptions, and the terminology itself is quite sophisticated. It also includes a vast number of abbreviations which we will just briefly mention as it makes sense to professionals and people who are deeply involved in the statistical analysis of baseball games.

This work deals with baseball terminology, its development, expansion and the word- formation processes used in the coinage of baseball terms. It mainly focuses on finding out whether we have the corresponding Czech equivalents in the Czech environment and whether we prefer those or the original English expressions in common everyday use.

The theoretical part introduces some basic linguistic terminology along with types of word-formation processes relevant to baseball terms that came to English through borrowing from different time periods and were influenced by other languages.

In the empirical part, first, the sport will be briefly introduced, its principle, history and number of people involved in baseball clubs. Then the survey methodology will be introduced, including details about survey respondents. Finally, the use of Czech words and anglicisms will be analyzed based on a questionnaire survey. The official rules of

ČBA served as a source of the Czech equivalents, and the aim was to find out which of the variants would be more likely used within the community. Terms which are not present in the official rules will be mentioned too as they are important for understanding the sport.

The appendix section features glossary of the most frequently used terms along with their Czech equivalents, the list of commonly used statistics abbreviations, a sample of the questionnaire used for the survey, and a spreadsheet with detailed survey results which was used for vindication or refutation of the hypotheses.

2. THEORETICAL PART

2.1. Sports jargon

Sometimes it might seem that people do not speak the same language. When listening to professionals talking vigorously about their subject, it is proof that there might be certain barriers in communication even within a language. These may depend on racial, regional, cultural, social or occupational backgrounds. In recent times, we frequently come across new areas of expression connected to computing, broadcasting, law, politics, press, science, medicine, and of course the Internet. We can talk about a language for specific purposes or even jargon. Crystal (2019:186) states two rather contradictive definitions of jargon: “the technical vocabulary or idiom of a special activity or group” and “obscure and often pretentious language marked by a roundabout way of expression and use of long words”. It is true that jargon is hardly ever described in positive terms. However, it makes communication of professionals much easier. As Jackson (2007:149) points out it is frequently impenetrable to outsiders, often deliberately. If you want to become a member of a particular group, you have to learn their language, and use it appropriately. “Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the various sports that we may be involved in, either as players, or more often as spectators” (Jackson 151). Baseball fans are familiar with a common jargon that is used in the game, involving the extension of the meaning of core vocabulary or compounding of familiar words. Here is a selection of baseball jargon divided under a number of headings:

- general: bat, spikes, runner, inning, umpire, batting order,

- field positions: pitcher, catcher, shortstop, first baseman, center fielder,

- types of ‘out’: strikeout looking, strikeout swinging, caught stealing, picked off, tagged-out, dropped third strike, flyout, groundout, lineout

- types of pitches: fastball, changeup, curveball, knuckleball, slider, cutter

- types of hits: fly ball, ground ball, line drive, pop up

Currently, there is a huge surge of new expressions from the field of medicine in connection with the covid-19 pandemics, which are presented to the wide public through media, and this original vocabulary for specific purposes becomes standard for all of us as it concerns all of us.

As well as science, medicine, law have their own terminology, or occupational jargons, individual sports have developed their own leisure jargons and term banks. This international unification of terminology helps understand their fields of activity. Over the years there have been attempts at creating various banks of terminology using computational techniques. However, with the constantly rising use of the Internet, and collaborative open-source tools like Wikipedia, those banks have lost their uniqueness and significance.

2.1.1. Dictionaries and publications focusing on sport

There are several dictionaries and publications that focus on sports terminology:

- Daňhelová’s dictionary of sports terminology features only two expressions connected to baseball, namely the words ‘baseball’ and ‘bat’. Although the expression ‘runner’ can be found in the dictionary, it concerns track and field disciplines.

- Heřmanský’s dictionary of sports terminology features more baseball items but it is still very brief, it mentions equipment and position players, but does not contain expressions concerning the game situations.

- Süss’s publication is the most comprehensive and aims at introducing the game and its rules to readers.

2.2. Basic linguistic terms

We can study a language through many linguistic disciplines, such as lexicology, morphology, semantics, phonology, etymology and syntax.

“Lexicology is the study concerned with the properties, usage and origin of words, and regularities and relations in the vocabulary of a language. Traditionally it includes the study of proper names (onomastics); the study of meaning (semantics); history of words (etymology); word-formation (lexical morphology), and as its specific part the study of multi-word expressions (phrases, collocations, idiomatics)” (Kvetko 13).

An important notion of lexeme (also called a lexical unit) was introduced. The term itself can mean two things which Peprník (8) categorizes as follows:

- the word realized by several morphological words, e.g. do, does, did, done, doing are taken to be five ‘versions’ of the one verb do. In dictionaries, only the infinitive appears as a main entry; in case of nouns, it is their singular form.

- the word composite in structure, e.g. throw out, stamp collector, take part (i.e. word- formation clusters) and such clusters as know a thing or two, be in the know, know the ropes, and other idioms.

Lexemes can be also described as headwords in dictionaries. “A dictionary contains (among other things) an alphabetical list of the lexemes of a language. We shall characterise a lexeme as a family of lexical units“ (Cruse 76).

Crystal (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language 210) defines morphology as the study of the structure of words. A widely recognized approach divides the field into two domains: lexical morphology studies the way in which new items of vocabulary can be built up out of combinations of elements (e.g. in-describ- able); inflectional morphology studies the way words vary in their form in order to express a grammatical contrast (e.g. ‘s’ at the end of words marking the plural). Then morphemes are elements out of which words can be constructed.

Semantics is concerned with meaning. There are several branches of semantics. “The linguistic approach aims to study the properties of meaning in a systematic and objective way, with the reference to as wide a range of utterances and languages as possible.” (Crystal 2010: 104) This approach can contribute for example to describing the polysemy of lexical items, or collocations. The amount of ambiguity needs to be also taken into consideration. The word depression bears various meanings depending on the field in which it is used (e.g. medicine, economics, meteorology, science).

Phonology is the study of the sound systems of languages. “By contrast with phonetics, which studies all possible sounds that the human vocal apparatus can make, phonology studies only those contrasts in sound (the phonemes) which make differences of meaning within language” (Crystal 2019: 248). Phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sounds system of a language. When we listen to individuals saying words, we might recognize slight differences in the way they pronounce particular sounds.

Ethymology is defined “as the study of the whole history of words, not just of their origin” (Jackson 7). It investigates the origins of individual lexemes and how they change in meaning and form. As suggested in the definition, etymological information makes reference to other languages. In the case of borrowed words, it tries to find the source language and place the borrowing on the timeline.

2.3. Lexicon and its sources

According to various linguistic theories, languages consist of two main components – a system of rules that we call grammar, and an inventory of lexemes that is called lexicon. By lexicon in linguistics we also mean “the total stock of meaningful units in a language – not only the words and idioms, but also the parts of words which express meaning, such as the prefixes and suffixes” (Crystal 2019: 128). Although in the past centuries this term referred to a physical book with words and their meanings sorted alphabetically, nowadays it is used in a rather abstract sense. The term itself comes from Greek lexis which means ‘word’. “Vocabulary is the Everest of a language. There is no larger task than to look for order among the hundreds of thousands of words which comprise the lexicon” (Crystal 2019: 127).

The individual items of the lexicon come from different sources and time periods.

2.3.1. Native vocabulary

According to Eckersley (417-430) the native vocabulary of English comprises of several elements:

- the Celtic element: contemporary English took practically nothing from the old Celtic language, but something of Celtic has been fossilized in numerous place names, e.g. The Celtic dun (= a protected place) can be seen in the names of Scottish towns like Dundee and Dunbar,

- the Anglo-Saxon element: Germanic invaders Angles, Saxons, Jutes influenced the language, and brought into it inflections, five cases of nouns, declensions of adjectives, and a system of grammatical gender (e.g. hand was feminine, foot masculine). However, most of that impact has changed, and has not survived to the present,

- the Danish element: with Danish raiders the inflectional endings were dropped, and numerous vocabulary contributions were made (e.g. skin, sky, knife),

- the Norman element: Norman invaders adopted French as their language, and brought striking and revolutionary changes to the language, numerous words from the areas of politics (e.g. state, government, parliament, chancellor, minister) and architecture (e.g. arch, castle, palace),

- the classical element: Latin and Greek words enriched the language mainly in the areas of technical and scientific terms (e.g. index, equivalent), but also in the fields of other new ideas or branches such as medicine, physics and chemistry (e.g. psychology, antiseptic, nitrogen).

2.3.2. Foreign borrowings

Languages in general borrow words from each other, or we can say that they use better words to express certain concepts. Borrowed words are also called loanwords and might be adopted from almost every language in the world. Even before becoming a world language, English has been in contact with many other cultures and languages which have massively borrowed English vocabulary. However, a huge wave of borrowings from other languages has also influenced English. The borrowing process in English could be tracked back to Anglo-Saxons period and over the centuries English has been influenced mainly by Latin, Greek and French, but also other languages. Thousands of new lexemes have been generated in the areas of inventions, politics and institutions, leisure, gastronomy, and many more.

Italian language contributed with vocabulary of music and architecture (e.g. piano, opera, balcony, corridor), Spanish with words like mosquito, guitar, hacienda. Loanwords from Portuguese feature buffalo and verandah, people of Holland brought the words yacht and cruise. From Asian regions we can find Persian words like bazaar and caravan, from India there are expressions pyjamas and shampoo. Aborigines, native Australians, enriched the English vocabulary with words boomerang, kangaroo and wombat. Words bongo, voodoo and harem were borrowed from local African languages. Even Greenland has its share in that, words like anorak, igloo and kayak come from the world’s largest island.

Among newer expressions we can find example from Russia (e.g. perestroika and glasnost), and Japan (e.g. karaoke, anime and emoji).

If we focus on the two main lexemes that the name of the sport is comprised of, we will find out that they are of two different origins. The word ‘ball’ is of Germanic origin, and came to English from Old Norse, whereas the word ‘base’ stems from Greek and was borrowed through Latin and Old French. The latter applies to expressions like ‘defence’, ‘offence’ and ‘error’.

The words ‘fly’, ‘ground’ and ‘home’ are of Germanic origin and came to English through Dutch. ‘Roster’ is purely Dutch and stems from the Dutch ‘rooster’ which means ‘list’. It is true that in baseball we also use the expression ‘line-up’ in the same sense which is based on Latin ‘linea’.

2.3.3. Changes in lexical structure

Most English vocabulary comes into existence by creating new lexemes out of existing ones, either by adding affixes to already existing words, by altering their word classes, or by combining lexemes to create compound words. The importance of word formation to the development of the lexicon is fundamental; therefore the next section is devoted to the process of forming new words.

2.4. Word formation

There are four usual processes of word formation in English and many other languages:

- Prefixation: an affix is placed before the base of the word, e.g. disobey. As Vogel (2007:17) points out, some prefixes have more than one meaning, which may lead to ambiguity (e.g. prefix ‘un’ can either be negative as in ‘unfair’ or ‘uncertain’, or reversive as in ‘unpack’ or ‘undo’.

- Suffixation: an affix is placed after the base of the word, e.g. kindness,

- Conversion: a word changes its class without any change of form, e.g. (the) carpet (noun) becomes (to) carpet (verb),

- Compounding: two base forms are added together, e.g. blackbird. According to Vogel’s classification (2007:18) based on the formal (word-class) criteria, there are the following types of compounds: adjective + noun = noun (e.g. ‘wild pitch’, ‘backstop’,

‘grandslam’ and ‘shortstop’ in baseball terminology), noun + noun = noun (e.g. ‘home plate’, ‘ballpark’, ‘baseline’ and ‘bullpen’ in baseball terminology), adjective + adjective = adjective (e.g. bittersweet), and adverb + verb = adjective (e.g. ‘caught- stealing’ in baseball terminology).

There are also less usual ways of making new words:

- Reduplication: a type of compound in which both elements are the same, or only slightly different, e.g. ‘goody-goody’, ‘teeny-weeny’,

- Clippings: an informal shortening of a word, often to a single syllable, e.g. ‘ad’, ‘gents’, ‘telly’, ‘homer’ and ‘sac fly’ in baseball terminology.

- Acronyms: words formed from the initial letters of the words that make up a name, e.g. NATO, UNESCO, radar (=radio detection and ranging); a sub-type is a alphabetism, in which the different letters are pronounce, e.g. VIP, DJ,

- Blends: two words merge into each other, e.g. brunch (from ’breakfast’ + ‘lunch’), telex (‘teleprinter’ + ‘exchange’).

The latter three ways all belong to certain types of abbreviations. As abbreviations are vital for understanding baseball, we will classify them according to types in the following section.

2.4.1. Conversion

Lexemes can change their word classes without the addition of an affix. In baseball vocabulary, we can observe this functional shift especially from nouns to verbs. The senses of the lexemes are usually maintained also in the derived form. In the Glossary of baseball terms (see Appendix 1), there are many nouns which have been shifted into verbs, and in the form of verbs are used especially in play-by-play broadcasts of baseball games:

- the noun ‘a single’ is used as the verb ‘to single’ as in the sentence “Miguel Rojas singles on a line drive to center fielder Cedric Mullins.”

- the noun ‘a double” is used as the verb ‘to double” as in the sentence “Max Muncy doubles on a sharp ground ball to right fielder Josh Reddick.”

- the noun ‘a triple” is used as the verb ‘to triple” as in the sentence “Corey Seager triples on a sharp line drive to left fielder David Peralta.”

- the noun ‘a fly-out’ or ‘a flyout’ is used as the verb ‘to fly out” as in the sentence “Justin Turner flies out to center fielder DJ Peters.”

- the noun ‘a strike-out’ or ‘a strikeout’ is used as the verb as in the sentence “Stevie Wilkerson strikes out swinging”.

- the noun ‘a walk’ is used as the verb ‘to walk’ as in the sentence “Kevin Kiermaier walks.”

- the noun ‘a homer’, which is an informal expression for homerun, is used as the verb ‘to homer’ as in the sentence “Randy Arozarena homers on a fly ball to left center field.”

However, we can also observe the shift the opposite way, it means from verbs to nouns as in the case of the verb ‘to steal’ which is used in baseball either as a verb as in the sentence “Phillip Steering steals second base”, but also unusually as a noun in the sentence “It counted as a steal.” In connection with the stealing bases process, we can also observe the usage of another non-standard noun - base stealers.

2.4.2. Abbreviations

Crystal (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 130) points out that abbreviations are one of the most noticeable features of present-day English linguistic life, and would form a major part of any superdictionary. Although it is often considered to be an exclusively modern habit, the fashion for abbreviations can be traced back over 150 years. “In 1839, a writer in the New York Evening Tatler comments on what he calls ‘the initial language… a species of spoken short-hand, which is getting into very general use among loafers and gentlemen of the fancy, besides Editors, to whom it saves much trouble in writing…’ (Crystal 2019:130). In this comment, Crystal was referring to an abbreviated form of ‘OK’ which stands for ‘all correct’.

The trend of abbreviations comes and goes in waves, and is often connected with special fields, including baseball and sports as such. The reasons for using abbreviated forms are quite clear – briefness, precision and sense of social identity. If we use the abbreviated forms form a certain area, we are the ones who are the knowledgeable and omniscient.

Nowadays we can find specific sets of abbreviations in all fields, and we have to get familiar with them to be able to get along, even within a particular company. The same abbreviation might mean different things throughout company’s departments - logistics, accounting, marketing, human resources, production, etc.

Crystal (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 130) divides abbreviations into the following types:

- Initialisms (also called alphabetism): items which are spoken as individual letters, the vast majority of abbreviations (including baseball ones) fall into this category. Not all use only the first letters of the constituent words: PhD, for example, uses the first two letters of the word philosophy, and TV takes a letter from the middle of the word,

- Acronyms: initialisms which, such as NATO, laser, UNESCO. Such items would never have periods separating the letters – a contrast with initialism, where punctuation is often present,

- Clipping: a part of word which serves for the whole, such as ad and phone. Two types: the first part is kept (more common as in exam, pub), or the last part is kept (as in bus, plane),

- Blends: a word is made out of the shortened forms of two other words, such as brunch, heliport, smog, Brexit, phablet,

- Awkward cases: mixed types (CD-ROM), some used only in writing (Mr, St – always pronounced in full in speech).

2.4.3. Baseball abbreviations

Unlike any other sport, baseball is obsessed with detailed statistical analysis. For the purposes of statistics, it is necessary to use abbreviated forms of baseball terms. The number of abbreviations is an overwhelming experience even for those who follow baseball games regularly. “Baseball without statistics would be like chocolate milk without chocolate. The thousands of numbers that swirl around baseball like confetti are the lifeblood of the game” (Kelly 36).

In the middle of the 19the century, Henry Chadwick, a reporter from New York, was credited with developing the box score as well as the system of scoring with symbols and

abbreviations still used today. Traditional player stats have been collected from the beginning of Major League Baseball history. These numbers tend to focus on a single element of an individual player’s performance. In recent decades, advanced formulas and calculations have been implemented into baseball statistics, so that they can attempt to capture detailed insights about player performance and game scenarios. Baseball statistics can be considered an independent discipline which is known under the name of sabermetrics. It was created to allow baseball fans to learn about the sport through objective measurements.

There are traditional baseball statistics abbreviations for batting, pitching and fielding. This work features only the most commonly used abbreviations in the glossary of terms, and it gives rather an extensive list of abbreviations according to the player’s position in Appendix 2.

The vast majority of the baseball abbreviations fall into the category of initialisms, so they are pronounced as individual letters (e.g. RBI, OBP and ERA), although there are a few newer statistical items whose abbreviations belong to the group of acronyms, which means they are pronounced as single words (e.g. FIP, WHIP and SIERA).

2.5. Changes of meaning

The vocabulary expands either by integrating new words or by giving a new, additional meaning to already existing lexical forms; it means that the older meaning can be replaced completely or partly, or most frequently the old and the new meaning coexist side by side, and the word or phrase becomes polysemic.

According to Peprník (39) the change of meaning can be approached from the aspects of logic or motivation.

From the aspect of logic, there are the following processes registered: widening, narrowing, branching, and transfer (metaphor).

2.5.1. Metaphorical phrases

New phrases in English stemming from baseball have become common since the early 1970s, when Tristram Potter Coffin wrote in his book called “The Old Ball Game: Baseball in Folklore and Fiction” that there was no other sport or occupation which have introduced so many phrases, so many words, and so many twists into the language as

baseball have. He demonstrated the fact on a few theoretical examples of two old ladies who have never been to the ballpark, coquettes who do not know or care who is on first, men who think athletics begin and end with a pair of goalposts, but each of them knows and widely uses a great deal of baseball-derived terminology, mostly in the form of metaphors, in their everyday lives.

There are a few examples of metaphorical phrases clearly originating from baseball, but used in a completely different context.

- to cover all the bases, meaning to deal with every possible thing that could happen or that people could want (Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners 321). The phrase appeared, for example, in an article “Grading the Oscar Speeches: Patricia Arquette Gets an A+” by Michael Schulman published in The NewYorker on 23rd February 2015 where he mentioned Julianne Moore’s speech given upon received the Best Actress award: “Her speech was a cover-all- the-bases sort, probably because, as a shoo-in, she had months to prepare.”

- to hit it out of the park, meaning to do or perform something extraordinarily well, to produce or earn an exceptional achievement according to the online Free dictionary, and which is derived from the phrase hit the ball out of the park meaning to do something extremely well according to the Cambridge dictionary. An opinion article was published in Washington Post on 3rd November 2019 under the title “Several Democratic candidates hit it out of the park”.

- right off the bat, meaning immediately, without delay according to the online Oxford learners dictionaries, which appeared in a Washington Post article on 29th April 2021 called “Biden’s address to Congress proves we have an adult back in the presidency” with a sentence “President Biden struck an optimistic tone right off the bat.”

- to step up to the plate, meaning to take responsibility for doing something, even though it is difficult according to the online Macmillan dictionary, which appeared in The Times article “We can look forward to a brighter future on the other side of lockdown” by Penny Mordaunt on 8th January 2021 in the sentence “ Why am I writing about it? It is because this is when the British people step up to the plate.”

The fact that baseball terminology in English language is enormous and still expanding is proved by several times updated edition of “The Dickson Baseball Dictionary”. Its first edition, published in 1989, had 5,000 entries; the second edition, 10 years later, had 7,000 entries; and in the most recent edition published in 2009 there were over 10,000 terms and 18,000 definitions.

The following empirical part will be mainly grounded in the section concerned with word formation process as the survey is predominantly comprised of compound nouns. The glossary of terms contains not only compounds, but also lexemes converted into different word classes, mostly nouns shifted into verbs. A significant part of the theoretical section was dedicated to abbreviations which are included in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2.

3. EMPIRICAL PART

The compilation of the glossary of baseball terms, which is included in Appendix 1, represents a crucial part of this work. The most important glossary terms were used in the subsequent survey.

3.1. Game principle and history

3.1.1. Principle of the game

Baseball belongs to a rather modest group of bat-and-ball games (along with softball, cricket, and a few not mainstream local games) where two opposing teams take turns in batting and fielding. The defending team starts the action by throwing a ball by the pitcher at a dedicated player of the attacking team - the hitter, who tries to hit it with a bat. If he succeeds, he becomes the runner and tries to hit it with a bat and run between safe areas in the field to score points, while the defending team can use the ball in various ways against the attacking team’s players to prevent them from scoring.

Baseball is a team sports game where the individual performance of players can have a greater effect on the result of the game than the performance of the whole team. The dominance of individual defence performance very often involves the pitcher’s and the catcher’s cooperation, but they both must work with other players to resolve game situations, gain points, and win the game. As in other team sports games, team relationships and the overall attitude of all players cannot be underestimated.

3.1.2. Baseball in the world

It is difficult to trace the beginnings of baseball precisely. The common roots of bat-and- ball games could be found in the 18th century in England where children played the game called ‘rounders’. However, if we go even further into history, to the 14th century, we will find out that English country milkmen spent their free time hitting a ball with a stick, and then circling around stools placed nearby. The stools were later replaced by wooden pegs which subsequently developed into bases we know nowadays.

“In 1845, Alexander Cartwright and Daniel “Doc” Adams, leaders of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, developed the first set of rules for the game. Though those rules changed rapidly over the next few years and continued to evolve into the 1900s, they were close enough to what baseball is today to mark the ‘birth’ of baseball” (Kelly 6).

In 1876, the National League of professional baseball clubs was established. They started hiring paid referees and created management of clubs which had been organized in a very simple way by then. It did not take long for a rival American League to appear, which was based mainly on the countryside clubs. Other competitions and leagues continued being created and dismissed, but only the National League and the American League achieved such popularity and strength that it allowed them to survive in the competitive environment. At present, the two leagues together comprise the so-called Major League, which is followed by millions of fans from all around the world.

3.1.3. Baseball in the Czech Republic

The beginnings of bat-and-ball games in the Czech Republic can be found in the YMCA organization. The pioneer of bat-and-ball games is undoubtedly Antonín First who completed a course for sports instructors in the early 1920s and in the late 1920s studied physical education and pedagogy at Springfield College in the United States. Later he organized large summer YMCA camps in the Sázava region where he taught outdoor life, tramping, canoeing, swimming, archery, tennis, but of course new ball games like volleyball, basketball and baseball.

One thing that contributed to the development of bat-and-ball games in the Czech Republic after World War Two was the fact that due to the political situation, it was ‘cool’ to play an American sport. The first competition games were played in the 1960s when there was also a boom in the creation of university clubs. The regular competition has been played since 1970.

The Czech Baseball Association (CBA) started its activities in 1993, with the establishment of the independent Czech Republic, and since then they have been organizing the Czech Extra League competition, the First League competition and also regional and youth competitions.

3.1.4. Members

It has already been mentioned that baseball does not belong to mainstream sports in the Czech Republic. However, the number of its members has been steadily rising. Based on the information system of the Czech Union of Sport, there are 4 984 registered members in Czech baseball clubs. However, according to the official yearbook published annually by ČBA (Czech Baseball Association), 4987 members were registered in the year 2012.

We must assess these data with caution as we do not know about the frequency of updates. I tried to search a particular sportsperson according to their birth number and discovered that they still appear on the lists of two sports clubs, baseball and football ones, although they have not been playing football for over three years.

The database data of the Czech Union of Sport have been used for comparison of individual sports played in the Czech Republic, even though they probably do not reflect the current state. According to the above-mentioned database, not surprisingly the most numerous is the membership base of football (over 368,000 members), and above- mentioned ice hockey features only a little over 41,000 members. There are over 55,000 organized tennis players in various Czech clubs. There are also quite a few sports sectors that occupy higher positions with member numbers around 45 thousand (e.g. athletics, volleyball and floorball), and sports such as basketball and table tennis state approximately 21,000 members. In comparison with the above-mentioned sports, baseball would fall into the category with about 5,000 registered members, and would be surrounded on one side by badminton (with about 7,600 members) and football tennis (6,000), and on the other side of the list by rugby (with about 3,800 members) and softball (3,400).

Since 2012, when the official ČBA yearbook stated approximately 5 thousand members, the numbers have been steadily rising, up to 8,003 members - ČBA official number from the 2019 yearbook.

3.2. Survey methodology

The empirical part of this thesis is concerned with a survey. The main aim of the empirical part is to find out the preferred choice of terminology within the Czech baseball community. The following part provides a description of the survey methodology. Firstly, survey aim and hypotheses are formulated. Secondly, there is a description of a survey instrument, namely a questionnaire. Furthermore, the process of data collection, its analysis and interpretation is outlined. The last section deals with the survey findings, and it also reveals whether the findings comply with the initially stated hypotheses.

There are different ways how to collect data; an interview and a questionnaire were considered. Interviews are very time-consuming and might contain biasing errors caused

by the interviewer’s interests; therefore this option was ruled out. A written questionnaire that respondents fill in by themselves seemed to be the most appropriate option. “Self- completion questionnaires have the advantage of being cheap, but are more suited to issues where there are only a few questions that are relatively clear and simple in their meaning, and the choice of replies can by limited to fixed categories” (Seale 183). Seale’s description summarizes the main characteristics of our survey. However, there are different of questionnaires – postal, web-based or email ones. Firstly, I considered sending the questionnaire by email to members of our baseball club. The disadvantage is that it is necessary to possess a list of email addresses which might not be in compliance with GDPR. Moreover, many people dislike unsolicited emails, and thus might ignore the questionnaire. Secondly, the group of respondents would be rather compact, and their close relationship may affect their choice. Finally, I decided for the web-based questionnaire which is cheap to administer, allows for a larger geographical coverage, provides greater anonymity for respondents, and is extremely fast. Most of the responses were collected within the first two days after posting the link on a Facebook profile.

Of course, there are also certain disadvantages. The internet access is not universal, so this form of a survey does not reflect the population as a whole. As my survey concerns relatively small and compact group of people, and is not intended for the general public, I do not consider this being an obstacle. Unfortunately, there is no control over who replies and how many times unless the software is set to accept only one reply which cannot be performed if the survey is anonymous.

3.2.1. Aim and hypotheses

The aim of this survey was to find out how Czech speakers deal with baseball terminology that originates in the English environment, whether they incline to use the Czech variant or keep the English ones.

The creation of the questionnaire was preceded by several hypotheses that influenced the choice of initial general questions.

- Hypothesis 1:

People of the older generation will tend to use Czech words as their knowledge of English might not be good while the younger generation will use English expressions

more often as they have been learning English all their lives and their exposure to the language is much higher (Internet, experience from stays abroad).

- Hypothesis 2:

Knowledge or ignorance of English could be a deciding factor between choosing the Czech or the English term. For students or graduates, the choice of English terms might predominate. Beginners will tend to use Czech expressions.

- Hypothesis 3:

Respondents' relationship to baseball will play a vital role when choosing the term. Since there is a considerable number of foreign coaches and players who have no need to use the Czech expressions, we can expect that the respondents from the group of professionals will tend towards using English.

- Hypothesis 4:

Overall usage of the selected terms will be in English. Baseball terminology is very specific and even though the official rules operate with Czech variants, it is easier and more natural even for Czech speakers to use English terminology.

3.2.2. Questionnaire

To be able to vindicate or refute the above stated hypotheses, a questionnaire was designed to collect data. Questionnaire is the most frequently used method for data collection which enables researchers to get a large amount of responses within a short period of time. Both, questions and answers in the questionnaire, were in written form.

The entire questionnaire was created in the Czech language as the level of respondents’ English knowledge was unknown. Google forms online tool was used for creation of the questionnaire, and subsequently it was administered by posting a link to the questionnaire on a Facebook profile of a website ‘Milujeme-baseball.cz’ which describes itself as “the best Czech website about baseball” and is updated daily. The Facebook profile was founded in 2014 and is followed by over 3,284 baseball fans. The link for the questionnaire was published on 21st February 2021, and the deadline for data collection was set for 14th March 2021.

The official Czech rules of baseball for the year 2021, published by ČBA, were used as the source for the choice of terms quoted in the questionnaire. In the official document, the selected terms appear exclusively in the Czech variant. It is an official document, and therefore it is obvious that it tries to use as many Czech words as possible to be widely understood in the Czech environment. However, we wanted to find out which of the variants would be more likely used by baseball community in the given sentences as some of the Czech expressions seem to be slightly artificial, used only to maintain the majority of the official text in Czech language. Twenty terms have been chosen which have both adequate variants, English and Czech one, available. All example sentences were inspired by the above-mentioned official ČBA rules.

The terms were not arranged alphabetically as it seemed more logical to arrange them according to their meanings. The first group of six terms refers to players’ positions on the field, one item is connected to the field itself, and the rest concerns game situations.

Although “respondents are often unmotivated, slapdash, hasty, and insincere, yet it is also an established fact that careful and creative questionnaire construction can result in an instrument that motivates people to give relatively truthful and thoughtful answers“ (Dörnyei 11). If we do not want to discourage respondents from completing a questionnaire, it is crucial to follow a series of steps and procedures explained by Dörnyei (2010:12) such as: deciding on the length, the format, and the main parts, writing appropriate instructions, piloting the questionnaire, and conducting item analysis. The main components of a questionnaire are the title, instructions (general or specific), questionnaire items, additional information, and the final “thank you”.

The “Baseball terminology” questionnaire was initiated by a brief introduction where the respondents were familiarised with the fact that it was comprised of 25 questions divided into two sections: five general questions concerning respondents’ gender, region, age, relationship to baseball and knowledge of English, and twenty questions concerning terminology. Both individual sections were accompanied by specific instructions introducing each task. All the items in both sections were closed type of questions where the respondents chose their answers from provided fixed options – a Czech term and an English term – as the aim was to discover what is the preferred variant and which language predominates when using baseball terminology. It was possible to choose just one option.

Before the beginning of the data collection for the survey, I piloted the questionnaire in my household where there are three persons involved in baseball in various roles (i.e. an active player, a parent, a fan)

3.2.3. Respondents

The survey was conducted within the Czech baseball community and aimed at finding out what is the preferred form of certain baseball terms used among baseball professionals (active players, retired players, coaches) and fans (parents, family members, etc.).

The questionnaire was anonymous which motivated the respondents to answer truthfully.

Over the course of three weeks 134 responses have been collected which corresponds to approximately 4% of followers of the Facebook profile. All respondents were Czech (or Slovak) native speakers. The questionnaire was filled in by 112 men, remaining 22 respondents were women. All the collected responses were valid, although the correctness of individual answers cannot be proved.

The majority of respondents (76 persons) fall into the age group between 20 and 40 years, there were 37 respondents from the category between 40 and 60 years, and the remaining 21 respondents belonged to the age group between 10 and 20. There were no responses collected among children under 10 years old as well as seniors over 60 years old.

More than three quarters of respondents (105 persons) considered themselves baseball professionals, whereas the remaining 29 respondents regard themselves as baseball fans.

A comparable number of respondents stated their knowledge of English language either as advanced (65 persons) or (pre)intermediate (60 persons), and only 9 respondents selected the beginners category.

3.3. Survey results

3.3.1. Processing questionnaire data

The questionnaire produced two types of visualisations of data. Firstly, very obvious results were observed from pie charts generated by the self-completed Google form itself. The pie charts illustrate numerical proportion, and they were very helpful in analyzing especially the particular language variant selected by the respondents for each individual terminology item. Secondly, the questionnaire results were transformed into a spreadsheet where each line represented a respondent’s answers (Appendix 4). Conditional formatting of the spreadsheet was used for more convenient orientation in the collected data. Dörnyei (2010:84) labels this process as coding procedures, his procedure nonetheless involves converting the responses into a numerical score. He suggests using numerical values for particular variables. Having all the items closed- ended, and also relatively low number of responses, colour coding was sufficient for the analysis of our data collection.

3.3.2. Actual results arising out of the questionnaire

- Result 1

The majority of respondents fall into the age category between 20 and 40 years (Graph 1).

The results indicate that children and teenagers in the group between 10 and 20 years tend to use English expressions almost exclusively. However, the results of the oldest response group (40-60 years old) did not fully confirm the initial hypothesis. Czech expressions were equally used in both groups, over 20 years old and over 40 years old respondents.

Graph 1: Age

- Result 2

The majority of respondents stated at least some knowledge of English. Fewer than 7 percent of respondents stated very low (or no) knowledge of English (Graph 2).

Even a respondent who stated being a (false) beginner would use all the expressions in English. It was definitely influenced by the fact that this respondent considers herself to be a professional who tends to use English expressions.

There were more beginners in all age groups, and all of them used only 4-6 Czech terms. It seems that the level of English does not have an impact on using English terminology. Even beginners have no problems with acquiring terms unknown to them.

Graph 2: Knowledge of English

- Result 3

Not surprisingly, the questionnaire has been answered mostly by respondents who are very closely involved in playing baseball. Over 78 percent of the respondents count themselves among professionals (Graph 3).

It seems that amateurs tend towards using Czech a little more, but it cannot be stated as a rule, it might be more of personal sympathy for certain words.

Graph 3: Relationship to baseball

- Result 4

The overall percentage of using a particular type of terminology falls in favour of the original English terms; more specifically, the distribution is 75.45% of English terms, 24.55% Czech terms.

Below we can find results for the individual items of terminology surveyed.

‘Catcher’ or ‘zadák’, ‘pitcher’ or ‘nadhazovač’

It is rather interesting that the two perhaps most important field positions (pitcher and catcher) - and therefore the most frequently referred to - do not share the same choice of the preferred language variant. For catcher, the vast majority of respondents (over 93%) would use the English term, regardless of their knowledge of English, or their age (Graph 4).

Graph 4: Catcher or zadák

However, for pitcher, the substantial majority of respondents (over 93%) would use the Czech term, regardless of their knowledge of English, or their age (Graph 5).

Graph 5: Pitcher or nadhazovač

In both cases, this might be caused by pronunciation resemblance of the less preferred term to a not really polite Czech words, and in case of the word chytač also the fact that for some reason no sport really uses this Czech word and there is no point in inventing a special Czech expression. Even the Czech term zadák is not widely used. The explanation may again be found in the Czech term’s pronunciation that is very similar- sounding to the expression zaďák used in Czech to denote outfield, the rear part of a ballpark.

‘Outfield’ or ‘zadní pole’, ‘infield’ or ‘vnitřní pole’

There was a discrepancy between infield and outfield in usage. It would be expected the respondents will use both terms of one language as they are very similar. However, in 31 cases people used the combination of both languages, favouring to a slight extent the English variant (Graphs 6 and 7).

Graph 6: Outfield or zadní pole

Graph 7: Infield or vnitřní pole

‘Dugout’ or ‘hráčská lavička’

In the case of the field item dugout/hráčská lavička, the result is absolutely convincing, over 95% of respondents used the English term (Graph 8). However, three respondents with a very good level of English used the Czech term which is surprising. It might be explained by the fact that they all fall to the amateur category where it could be influenced by mainstream sports such as football and ice hockey.

Graph 8: Dugout or hráčská lavička

‘Lineup’ or ‘pořadí pálkařů’

Only two occurrences of the Czech expression pořadí pálkařů were recorded, surprisingly marked by professionals. Although they selected rarely used and long expression pořadí pálkařů, they did not select the Czech term for hráčská lavička which is also hardly ever used (Graph 9). As for pronunciation, both Czech expressions are twice as long as their English counterparts.

Graph 9: Line-up or pořadí pálkařů

‘Base on balls’ or ‘meta zdarma’

Although the majority of respondents selected the Czech variant (Graph 10), the English one - or more precisely its abbreviation (BB) used with a Czech inflection - is also widely used.

Graph 10: ‘Base on balls’ or ‘meta zdarma’

‘Bunt’ or ‘ulívka’

For this type of a hit Czechs strongly prefer the Czech term ulívka (Graph 11), even though it is a longer expression than the English one. The reason might be its colloquial character.

Graph 11: Bunt or ulívka

‘Passed ball’ or ‘nechycený nadhoz’, ‘wild pitch’ or ‘nechytatelný nadhoz’

The terminology items passed ball and wild pitch were both predominantly used in English variants (Graphs 12 and 13). They are compound noun phrases which both consist of two syllables. However, the Czech expressions are pronounced with six and seven syllables respectively, which make it too long for instant calls.

Graph 12: Passed ball or nechycený nadhoz

Graph 13: Wild pitch or nechytatelný nadhoz

‘Rundown’, ‘obranný trojúhelník’ or ‘honička’

This was the only term where there was a choice of three variants - an English term, and two Czech ones (Graph 14). The expression obranný trojúhelník has not been used by any respondent. Even though it is not used by baseball community, surprisingly, it is the term used in the official ČBA material.

Graph 14: Rundown, obranný trojúhelník or honička

‘Slide’ or ‘skluz’

Almost 98% of respondents used the English expression for this term which makes the Czech variant almost insignificant (Graph 15).

Graph 15: Slide or skluz

‘Double play’ or ‘dvoj aut’

Only six out of 134 respondents would use the variant double play that cannot be even considered Czech one (Graph 16). Half of this compound is comprised of a Czech lexeme, and the second half of an English one. This might be the reason for the inclination to use the all-English variant.

Graph 16: Double play or dvoj aut

‘Foul ball’ or ‘chybný odpal’, ‘hit’ or ‘dobrý odpal’, ‘ground ball’ or ‘míč po zemi’

All three items would be predominantly used in their English variants. A very similar explanation as for the above-mentioned passed ball and wild pitch could be applied for foul ball, hit, and ground ball (Graphs 17, 18 and 19). Even though the pronunciation length difference is not so significant, still the Czech terms bear twice as many syllables as the English variants, which might cause the immediate calls rather incomprehensible.

Graph 17: Foul ball or chybný odpal

Graph 18: Hit or dobrý odpal

Graph 19: Ground ball or míč po zemi

‘Error’ or ‘chyba’

Usage of the English variant dominates the respondents choice, even though both expressions are rather short. The term error and its abbreviation (E) also appear on scoreboards since this item belongs among the most crucial game numbers, along with runs and hits.

Graph 20: Error or chyba

‘Homerun’ or ‘čtyřmetový odpal’

For this item, not surprisingly, all the respondents unanimously selected the English variant (Graph 21).

The term homerun is so closely and inseparably associated with baseball that it might even be the only expression a total amateur or uninterested person would connect with this sport. The term appeal in titles of specialized magazines, podcasts and TV programmes. Hitting a homerun has been the ultimate goal of all baseball players since they started playing the game, regardless of their age.

Graph 21: Homerun or čtyřmetový odpal

3.3.3. Vindication/refutation of the hypotheses

Result 1 has partially vindicated Hypothesis 1. Not only young generation prefers English terminology, but also members of the older generation tend to favour English baseball terms.

Result 2 has refuted Hypothesis 2. The level of English language knowledge does not have a considerable impact on preferred variant, and even beginners prefer using English terminology.

Result 3 has vindicated Hypothesis 3 to a large extent. Although professionals would definitely give priority to English terminology, we had expected lower number of amateurs selecting English terms.

Result 4 has fully vindicated Hypothesis 4. Three quarters of all selected terminology item would be used in English variant.

In conclusion, neither age, knowledge of English, nor allegiance to baseball play a key role in the preference of English/Czech baseball terms. The most probable reason is the American origin of the sport, and also the fact that close relations with the USA are still maintained, either in the form of foreign coaches or import players. The top-level baseball, and also the main goal of every active player, is the MLB competition, which can be watched only in English. In order to enjoy baseball games properly, fans’ awareness of the English terminology is absolutely crucial.

4. CONCLUSION

The final thesis “English sports terminology - baseball” aims at describing the most frequently used baseball terms and abbreviations.

The theoretical part introduces basic linguistic concepts and sources of the English lexicon - processes of borrowing and word-formation. The thesis also points out semantic changes and gives examples of the metaphorical use of baseball terms in everyday language. The theoretical part includes quotes mainly from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (Crystal), Words, Meaning and Vocabulary (Jackson, Amvela), and English Lexicology (Peprník).

The empirical part briefly introduces the game and its origins in the Czech Republic, and mostly deals with the results of a survey conducted among members of the Czech baseball community. The survey itself was performed with the help of a questionnaire, and its aim was to find out what the preferred form of baseball terminology is. The terminology part was mostly compiled from Oficiální pravidla baseballu (Kulhánek), Softball a baseball (Süss), Baseball for dummies (Morgan), and numerous internet resources as it is hard to find literature about baseball in the Czech language.

The glossary of terms is in the form of an appendix, and the lexical items are listed in alphabetical order. Each term is provided with a Czech translation (if there is any), an English definition, and information about a word class. The appendix also contains a list of abbreviations used for statistics in baseball.

The English language has undoubtedly a very strong influence on Czech, not only in the area of sports terminology. Despite the fact that English is not inflectional, Czech speakers do not hesitate to add inflections to English terms thus creating blended expressions. Although baseball does not belong to mainstream sports in the Czech Republic, recently it has gained in popularity. The numbers of members are rising, new clubs are being created, the original ones are improving their facilities. There are not many sources for newcomers that could explain the main rules and terminology.

The tendency to use English terminology could be observed even in mainstream sports, such as football and ice hockey, which also provide fans with elaborate Czech terminology. A player’s position always referred to as ‘útočník’ has recently been replaced by the expression ‘forvard’ which stems from the English lexeme ‘forward’.

The same can be observed with the expression ‘stoper’, which has substituted formerly used term ‘střední obránce’.

In baseball, it has always been different. There has never been the need to create sophisticated Czech terminology as the few enthusiasts used their professional sports jargon and made themselves fully understood. Even after 60 years of playing baseball in the Czech Republic, English terminology drastically prevails, and the tendency to using English terms over the Czech ones will continue.

REFERENCES

Bauer, Laurie. English Word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Cruse, D.A. Lexical semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language – Third edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language – Third edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Daňhelová, Šárka. Anglická sportovní terminologie. Brno: Paido, 2003.

Dörnyei, Zoltán. Questionnaires in Second Language Research. New York: Taylor & Francis , 2010.

Eckersley, C.E., J.M. Eckersley. A Comprehensive English Grammar. London: Longman House, 1960.

Heřmanský, Jaroslav. Moderní anglicko-český slovník sportovních výrazů. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2003.

Jackson, Howard, and Etienne, Zé Amvela. Words, Meaning and Vocabulary. London: Continuum, 2007. Print.

Kelley, James. Eyewitness Baseball. New York: DK Publishing, Inc., 2005.

Kulhánek, David. Oficiální pravidla baseballu. Praha: Česká Baseballová Asociace, 2021.

Kvetko, Pavol. English Lexicology In Theory and Practice. Trnava: FF UCM, 2009.

Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners. Londo: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2002.

Morgan, Joe, and Richard Lally. Baseball for dummies. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014.

Pecušová, Anna. Softbal, či softbol? Naše řeč, volume 70 (1987), issue 5, p.271 Retrieved from http://nase-rec.ujc.cas.cz/archiv.php?lang=en&art=6735#_ftnref1

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Süss, Vladimír. Softball a baseball. Praha: Grada Publishing, 2003.

Süss, Vladimír, a Jiří Votinský. Příručka pro zapisovatele softballu. Praha 2005.

Táborský, František. Sportovní hry II. Praha: Grada Publishing, 2005.

Vogel, Radek. Basics of Lexicology. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2007.

Votinská, Evženie. Český baseball 2019. Praha: Česká baseballová asociace, 2020.

Internet resources

www.dictionary.com

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/

http://m.mlb.com/glossary

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/

https://coachingkidz.com/baseball-terminology-the-ultimate-guide-to-terms-used-in- baseball/#-_S

https://baseballrulesacademy.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Baseball_terminology

www.baseball-encyclopedia.com

https://www.glossophilia.org/2021/01/outside-baseball-20-words-expressions-that-came- right-off-the-batting-field/

https://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/how-baseball-has-changed-english- language

https://iscus.cz/

https://www.baseball.cz/

https://abbreviations.yourdictionary.com/articles/basic-baseball-stats-abbreviations.html

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/grading-oscar-speeches-patricia- arquette-gets

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hit+one+out+of+the+park

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/11/02/several-democratic-candidates- hit-it-out-park/

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/bat_1#right_idmg_25

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/28/bidens-address-congress-proves- we-have-an-adult-back-presidency/ https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/step-up-to-the-plate https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/we-can-look-forward-to-a-brighter-future-on-the- other-side-of-lockdown-lw76mg0kn

APPENDIXES

Appendix 1: Glossary of baseball terminology

Appendix 2: Baseball abbreviations

Appendix 3: Questionnaire – Baseball terminology

Appendix 4: Spreadsheet questionnaire results

Appendix 1:

A at-bat (AB) - start na pálce

(n) a player's turn at batting, as officially recorded

(adv) when batting.

B backstop - zadní síť, backstop

(n) a high fence or similar structure behind the home plate area

balk (BK) - “balk”; nesprávný pohyb nadhazovače

(n) an illegal motion of the pitcher on the mound that the umpire deems to be deceitful to the runner(s)

(v) to stop in the act of throwing the ball to the batter, in a way that is against the rules

ball - “ból”, špatný nadhoz

(n) a pitch that doesn’t cross the strike zone or the umpire deems to have not crossed the strike zone

(n) short for baseball

ball four (BB) - meta zdarma

See base on balls

ball park - stadion, hřiště

(n) a stadium used for baseball games

base - meta

(n) any one of the four corners of an infield, marked by a bag or plate, that must be touched by a runner before a run can be scored

base coach - kouč na metě

(n) a coach of a batting team on 1st and 2nd base; their job is to relay signs and support base runners by telling them what to do

base hit (H) - metový odpal

(n) the successful act of striking a baseball in such a way that the batter reaches base safely

base line or baseline - pomezní čára

(n) a line that extends out from home plate; there are two of them which extend through 1st and 3rd to the outfield wall

base on balls (BB) - meta zdarma, bébéčko

(n) an advance to first base by a batter who receives four balls

bases empty - prázdné mety

(n) there are no runners on bases

bases loaded - plné mety

(n) there are runners on 1st, 2nd and 3rd base at the same time

bat - pálka

(n) baseball equipment used by batters to hit balls that are pitched to them; professionals use wooden bats, while the lower levels use metal and composite bats

batter - pálkař

(n) a player who is at-bat and receiving pitches from the pitcher

batter’s box - území pálkaře

(n) a designated place where batters must stand in during an at-bat

batter’s interference - útočné bránění

(n) instances in which the batter isn’t involved in the play on the field but impedes it. This includes getting in the way of a catcher’s throw or not moving away from a play at the plate.

batting average (BA) - pálkařský průměr a measure of a batter's performance; the total number of hits by a batter divided by his at- bats. If a batter hits the ball 1-in-5 times, they’re batting .200 or “two hundred”

batting order - pořadí na pálce

(n) a list of batters in the order in which they will bat; batting orders can change from game-to-game and even within games if the coach decides to make a substitution

bottom of the inning - dohrávka směny

(n) the second part of an inning when the home team is batting

bullpen - “bulpen”

(n) the place for all pitchers who don’t start the game, but may enter the game at some point.

bunt - ulívka, ulejvka, “bant”

(n) act of hitting a baseball lightly without swinging the bat

(v) to tap the ball into play lightly without swinging the bet to advance the runners

C catch - zachycení, “keč”/ chytit

(n) the act of receiving a ball

(v) to take hold of a ball

catcher - “kečr”, zadák, chytač

(n) the position on a baseball team of the player who is stationed behind home plate and who catches the balls that the pitcher throws

catcher’s interference (CI) - obranné bránění

(n) a situation when the catcher impedes the batter from hitting the ball

caught stealing (CS) - chycen při krádeži mety

(adj) a situation when when a runner attempts to steal but is tagged out before reaching second base, third base or home plate

center field - střední pole, střeďák, centr

(n) the piece of ground in the outfield directly ahead of the catcher

center fielder - středopolař

(n) the person who plays center field

changeup - changeup

(n) a slow pitch thrown with the same arm action as a fastball, intended to deceive the batter

clean-up hitter - clean-up hitter, čtvrtý pálkař

(n) the 4th hitter in the lineup and usually the team’s best power hitter

closer - closer

(n) a relief pitcher that tends to come in for the 9th inning to close out and earn a win for his team

complete game (CG) - complete game

(n) a starting pitcher pitches the entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher

count - stav

(n) the number of balls and strikes a batter has

curveball - točka, točený nadhoz

(n) a pitch that moves unexpectedly in the air because of spin put on the ball by the pitcher

cutoff - cutoff

(n) the interception by an infielder of a throw to home plate from the outfield

(adj) serving to intercept or relay a throw to home plate from the outfield

cutter - cutter

(n) a fastball that breaks away from right-handed players and toward lefties

cycle - cycle

(n) the achievement of hitting a single, double, triple, and home run all in a single game

D dead ball - mrtvý míč

(n) a ball out of play; when a batter is hit by a pitch or a batted ball touches the batter

defence - obrana

(n) the group of players who are fielding and trying to stop the opposing players scoring a run/point

designated hitter (DH) - suplující pálkař, déháčko

(n) a ballplayer who is designated to bat in place of the pitcher

diamond - vnitřní pole, hřiště

(n) the area of a baseball field that is enclosed by 3 bases and home plate; another term used to denote the infield

double (2B) - dvoumetový odpal, dvoumeťák

(n) a hit from which the batter reaches second base

Doubleheader - dvojzápas

(n) two games played back-to-back

double play (DP) - dvoj aut, “dabl”

(n) the act of getting two players out on one play

dugout - “dagaut”, lavička, střídačka

(n) a team's bench which is located in foul territory between home plate and either first or third base; there are two dugouts, one for the home team and one for the visiting team

E earned run (ER) - umožněný doběh

(n) a run that was not scored as the result of an error by the other team

earned run average (ERA) - průměr umožněných doběhů za zápas

(n) a measure of a pitcher's effectiveness

error (E) - “eror”, chyba

(n) a fielder receives an error if, in the judgment of the official scorer, he fails to convert an out on a play that an average fielder should have made, and thus allows a batter to reach base or a runner to advance extra bases

extra inning - nastavená směna, extra směna

(n) overtime play until one team is ahead at the end of an inning

F fielder - polař

(n) a defensive player who fields the ball

fielder’s choice (FC) - volba v obraně

(n) a variety of plays involving an offensive player reaching a base due to the defense's attempt to put out another baserunner, or the defensive team's indifference to his advance

first base - první meta

(n) the base that must be touched first by a base runner in baseball

fly ball - vysoký odpal, luft, “fláj”

(n) a hit that flies up in the air

force out/play (FO) - nucený aut/ nucený postup

(n) a putout of a base runner who is required to run

foul ball - “faul ból”, odpal mimo výseč, chybný odpal

(n) a ball struck with the bat so that it does not stay between the lines (the foul lines) that define the width of the playing field

full count - plný stav

(n) a count where the batter has three balls and two strikes; also known as “3-and-2” or “3-2”.

Grand slam or grandslam (GS or GRSH) - grandslam, čtyřbodový homerun

(n) a homerun hit with men on first base, second base and third base; four runs score on a grand slam, the most possible on one play

ground rule double - pravidlo postupu o dvě mety

(n) a special rule dealing with situations that arise due to the nature of the playing grounds; a fair ball that is put into play and then bounces out of play, the batter is rewarded 2 bases

ground ball - “graund ból”, odpal po zemi

(n) a hit that travels along the ground

grounder - odpal po zemi

(n) a hit that travels along the ground

H hit (H) - hit, odpal, dobrý odpal

(n) a ball that is put into play that allows the batter to safely reach base

hit and run - hit and run

(n) a situation when a base runner attempts to steal while the batter tries to hit the ball

hit by pitch (HBP) - trefení nadhozem

(n) a situation when a batter is hit by a pitched ball thrown by the pitcher without swinging at it; the batter is granted first base as a result

home plate - domácí meta

(n) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands

homerun, homer (HR) - homerun, čtyřmetový odpal

(n) a base hit on which the batter scores a run as he is able to circle the bases and reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process

(v) to hit a homerun

home team - domácí tým

(n) the team that plays in their stadium and bats second

I infield - infield, vnitřní pole

(n) the area of a baseball field that is enclosed by 3 bases and home plate

infielder - vnitřní polař

(n) a person who plays a position in the infield

infield fly - vnitřní chycený odpal

(n) a rule that applies to a ball that is popped up in the infield with runners on first and second, or when the bases are loaded with less than 2 outs. The rule prevents the fielding team from purposely dropping these balls and subsequently turning double plays

inning - směna

(n) one of nine divisions of play during which each team has a turn at bat

intentional walk (IBB or IW) - úmyslná meta zdarma

(n) a situation when a batter is given a free pass to first base to take advantage of a pitching matchup or to face a weaker hitter

K knuckleball - “nakl”

(n) the type of a baseball pitch that is thrown to prevent rotation during flight; this causes the ball to break and move erratically

L leadoff hitter - první pálkař

(n) the first batter of a game or of an inning

left field - levé pole

(n) the area of the outfield to the left of the batter

left fielder - levý polař

(n) the person who plays left field

line drive - line drive, přímý odpal

(n) a bat that is hit hard and low, and that flies straight out from the batter to any spot of the baseball field

lineup - lineup, pořadí pálkařů

(n) a list of players taking part in a game; it is the sequence in which the members of the offense take their turns in batting against the pitcher

loss (L) - prohra

(n) statistics earned by pitchers of losing teams who leave the game when their team is losing and ultimately ends up losing the game

M mound - kopec

(n) the raised dirt area in the center of the infield which the pitcher throws from during the game

n no-hitter - no-hitter

(n) a game in which a starting pitcher throws a complete game without allowing a hit during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings

O offence - útok

(n) the group of players who are batting and trying to hit the ball, move base runners over and score runs/points

on-deck - on-deck, následující pálkař

(adj) the next batter due up after the current batter; stands in the on-deck circle while the batter before him tries to hit the ball

out (O) - “aut”

(n) the basic principle when a player at bat or a base runner is retired by the team in the field; outs are generally recorded through a strikeout, a groundout, a popout or a flyout

outfield - outfield, zadní pole, zaďák

(n) the area of a baseball playing field beyond the lines connecting the bases

outfielder - zadopolař, vnější polař

(n) a person who plays in the outfield

passed ball (PB) - passed ball, nechycený nadhoz

(n) a pitch that the catcher should have caught but did not

perfect game - perfect game

(n) a game in which the pitcher throws the entire game and doesn’t allow a player on base

pickoff (PK) - pickoff, přihrávka nadhazovače

(n) a move by the pitcher to attempt to throw one of the runners on base out instead of throwing the ball home

pinch hitter - střídající pálkař

(n) a substitute player for the regular batter in the batting order for one plate appearance

pinch runner - střídající běžec

(n) a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing a runner on base; the pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner was substituted

pitch - nadhoz

(n) the act of a pitcher throwing the ball towards home plate to start a play

(v) to throw the ball to batters of the opponent team

pitch count (PC) - počet nadhozů

(n) number of pitches thrown by a pitcher in a game

pitcher - nadhazovač, pitcher

(n) the person who does the pitching and throws the ball to batters

plate - domácí meta

(n) see home plate

(v) to cause a run to be scored or a runner to cross home plate, as by a hit

play-by-play - play-by-play, nadhoz po nadhozu

(n) a commentary on a game that describes every part of it in great detail

(adj) reporting details of every phase of the match as it happens

R reliever / relief pitcher - náhradní nadhazovač

(n) a pitcher who does not start the game

right field - pravé pole

(n) the part of the outfield to the right of the batter when facing the pitcher

right fielder - pravý polař

(n) the person who plays right field

roster - soupiska

(n) a list of the names of players on a sports team