Women's Baseball World Cup shows baseball's language is global

This is an excerpt from the latest edition of the Michael Clair's International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE.

This month, we have a special guest writer taking the lede as Julia Kreuz recently returned from Thunder Bay, Ontario, where she covered the Women's Baseball World Cup that saw Japan win its 7th consecutive gold medal.

Baseball is a language of its own, spread around the globe in the form of many dialects.

Examples are numerous in the English-speaking parts of North America: If a project is a resounding success, you can say you’ve knocked it out of the park. If something catches you off guard, you’ve been thrown a curveball -- even more surprising when it comes out of left field.

So much of our culture is embedded in sayings that have seeped into everyday life. Naturally, that’s not exclusive to our corner of the world, with different languages and countries adding their own spin to baseball terminology.

The 2024 Women’s World Cup finals in Thunder Bay, Ontario, were a great opportunity to find out more about those sayings and how they’ve been incorporated in different cultures. Here are some of the most unique expressions we learned from players, coaches and friends during the tourney.

Venezuela

Original: Estar en tres y dos
Translation: To be at 3-2
Meaning: To be under pressure

On a 3-2 count, the batter must make a decision. Whatever it is, it’ll happen in a split second and it will come with a risk. “To be at 3-2,” then, means you may find yourself at a crossroads or facing pressure to make a choice.

Mexico
Original: Volarse la barda
Translation: To hit it over the fence
Meaning: To outdo yourself / To embellish a story

This is a fun one, because it can be a term of praise or of mockery -- it depends on the context. “Barda” in the Spanish word for “fence.” “Volarse la barda” can be interpreted as “to let it fly over the fence,” or “to hit it over the fence.” The saying may convey an extraordinary achievement, but it may also indicate someone is taking some liberties, making their own achievements bigger, in their retelling of a story.

Original: Llegar barriendo
Translation: To come sliding in or sweeping in
Meaning: To make it in the nick of time

Basestealing is an art form. So is staying in bed an extra 10 minutes and still making it to work on time. To arrive somewhere by sliding in, as if stealing a base, means you’ve just made it -- without a second to spare.

Japan
Original: 言葉のキャッチボール (Kotoba no catchball)
Translation: To talk as if playing catch
Meaning: To have a back-and-forth chat

For a brand of baseball that’s big on fundamentals, this makes quite a bit of sense. Playing catch is perhaps the most simple and laid back part of this sport, second nature from childhood for baseball lovers. To talk to someone as if playing catch is to have a natural, back-and-forth chat, though some Japanese speakers also qualify this more intensely, as a quick and sharp exchange of words. Again, context is key.

Language was a cool entry point into the distinct ways we can see the same game. What we saw on the field at the WBWC took it even further.

Players from the Western Hemisphere found plenty to admire in how Japan and Chinese Taipei conducted themselves, with diligent-yet-laid back pregame routines and a respectful bow to the field after every contest. Japan rode its pitching-and-defense, small-ball game all the way to a seventh straight title, including a three-run inning on three safety-squeeze bunts in the championship game.

Asian players, meanwhile, watched in awe as the North Americans launched home runs and stole a ton of bases.

Appreciation mounted across the board for the energy and athleticism of Latin America, as Mexico and Venezuela chanted from the dugout nonstop while playing a gutsy brand of ball.

It starts with admiration, then it turns into an important lesson in identity.

“The best part about it is no matter where they're from, no matter what their age is, no matter the full set of background, at the end of the day, they still play the game the way the game is supposed to be played, which is the beautiful part of this sport,” said Kelsie Whitmore, whose baseball career has taken her all around the globe. “It doesn't matter what shape, size, color, sexuality, gender, it doesn't matter where you come from and who you are. At the end of the day, it’s still baseball.”

The game is its own Rosetta Stone.

“You’ve still gotta throw the ball, you’ve still gotta make the plays, hustle and throw strikes,” said Whitmore. “So it doesn’t matter. … All of us are here, all right, we look at each other and we all look different, we all come from different places, we all have different things that we struggle with.

“But at the end of the day, what are we all here for? We’re all here for the same thing.”