It’s September, the final month of regular season baseball. That’s good news for me, because I am a long-time Phillies fan and they are having a great year (In fact, I’m watching a game as I type). Then again, you may have no interest in baseball whatsoever (a sad thing to consider). But whether you are passionate or indifferent to the game, I bet baseball lingo has infiltrated your day-to-day speech.

Let’s list some of the ways baseball jargon has flavored and enriched American English. Here are a few examples of common idioms that come directly from baseball:

• in the ballpark/ballpark figure: “I didn’t predict the score exactly, but I was in the ballpark.”

• batting a thousand : “That’s another sale! So far today I’m batting a thousand.”

• throw a curve ball: “I had the plan down until my boss threw me a curve ball.”

• cover all the bases: “Before you start the project, be sure to have all your bases covered.”

• get to first base: “I met with the client, but we didn’t even get to first base.”

• go to bat for someone: “I would have been in big trouble if Ed wasn’t willing to go to bat for me.”

• play hardball: “If we are going to stay competitive, we’re going to have to play hardball with our competition.”

• knock it out of the park: “John’s presentation was great; he really knocked it out of the park.”

• out of left field: “Boy, that comment was out of left field.”

• way off base: “His ideas for reforming education are way off base.”

• rain check: “I can’t make our lunch. Can I have a rain check?”

• right off the bat: “I made a good impression right off the bat.”

• screwball: “The guy with the clown shoes is a real screwball.”

• step up to the plate: “We are in big trouble until a real leader steps up to the plate.”

• three strikes: “He better not mess up again; he’s already got two strikes against him.”

• touch base: “Call me next week so we can touch base.”

• whole new ball game: “I understand Algebra well enough, but Trigonometry is a whole new ball game.”