Harry Lewis Explains How Baseball Explains Everything

New book shows how baseball words apply to all of life.

The Brooklyn Dodgers All-Star pitcher Ralph Branca, whose name became a synonym for goat after he gave up a pennant-losing home run in 1951, might appreciate Baseball as a Second Language: Explaining the Game Americans Use to Explain Everything Else, by inveterate sports buff Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay professor of computer science and former dean of Harvard College. In the slim (74 pages) volume Lewis collects classic words and phrases associated with the great game, defines them as baseball terms, and describes how Americans, at least, apply those diamond-tempered meanings to describe, well, most anything. Lewis has clearly gathered notes and clippings on the subject for some time; he documents these usages with colorful examples from news items, television, and movies.

Rhubarb, for example, means a lively argument on the ball field, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger got into a “political rhubarb” in California. A grand slam is a home run hit when all bases are occupied, but a dermatologist has declared that stopping hair loss is a home run, while “Growing more hair is a grand slam.” Newbie investors swing for the fences—trying for huge financial gains. And even Vladimir Putin can throw a threatening brushback pitch, not from the mound, but the podium.

You might also like

What of the Humble Pencil?

Review: At the Harvard Art Museums’ new exhibit, drawing takes center stage

‘passengers’ at A.r.t. Blends Acrobatics with Einstein’s Relativity

Review: Quantum mechanics meets circus arts at the American Repertory Theater’s performance

A Paper House in Massachusetts

The 1920s Rockport cottage reflects resourceful ingenuity.

Most popular

Harvard Art Historian Jennifer Roberts Teaches the Value of Immersive Attention

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

The Beauty of Beans

Viola Canales ’79, J.D. ’89, grew up in a close-knit, highly religious community in the south Texas border town of McAllen, when it...

At Harvard, Mike Pence Discusses Democracy and Conservatism

The former vice president denounces political violence, expresses hope for a deal between Trump and the University.

Explore More From Current Issue

James Muller in white lab coat leaning on railing in hospital hallway.

Free Speech, the Bomb-and Donald Trump

A Harvard cardiologist on the unlikely alliances that shaped a global movement to prevent nuclear war

Book cover of "Black Moses" by Caleb Gayle with subtitle about ambition and the fight for a Black state.

Civil Rights in the American West

A new book chronicles one man’s quest for a Black state.

Johnston Gate

Your Views on Harvard’s Standoff, Antisemitism, and More

Readers comment on the controversial July-August cover, authoritarianism, and scientific research.