h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OOPS... I didn't see that 1 was still pending and MUDVILLE was already guessed.

Correct so far:

1. FIREBALLER
2. F????
3. HIT AND RUN
4. I??????
5. I????? ????????
6. J???????
7. M??? ????
8. MUDVILLE
9. N??
10. O???????
11. P??????
12. PINCH-HIT
13. P???????
14. RAIN CHECK
15. SABERMETRIC

So, FLIES, INSIDER, MILE HIGH, and NUT were incorrect.

At least I got a couple correct. (I'll take MUDVILLE without a point, because I didn't see it was up already. Just for personal accomplishment.)

I should have gotten pinch hit .

Damn it! I miscounted question marks.


5. INSIDE BASEBALL

I didn't even know fireballer was a word--I just plugged letters into the question marks What I know about baseball, I've picked up by osmosis--and maybe some from Benjamin Sisko on DS9

Well, it was a good guess. Fast balls are also called "heat" and "heaters". (I know this from watching Bull Durham.)




"The rose goes in the front, big guy."

I'm kicking myself over "pinch hit."

I like baseball. I enjoyed "The Art of Fielding," "Bang the drum slowly," and some other baseball-based novels. I read one of Jim Bouto's books but can't remember which one.

"Art of Fielding" brings some unusual things together: baseball, Wisconsin, college sports, and Herman Melville. Melville gave a lecture in Madison, Wisconsin. He also wrote "Redburn," a poem which describes a baseball game as baseball was understood during the days when he was teaching at a private school. There are some who consider it one of the greatest books of the 19th Century.

I week my nerd colors proudly!

I *wear* my geek colors proudly. I should try to spell things right, though.

Let’s call it a day on this one. The solutions I had were:

1. fireballer
2. fungo
3. hit and run
4. incurve
5. inside baseball
6. junkball
7. moon shot
8. Mudville
9. nub
10. outright
11. pickoff
12. pinch-hit
13. pitchout
14. rain check
15. sabermetrics

The final scores are:

Baron Grim
Amy, paulh



Now, let the arguments begin!

I would have gotten 11, but I was thinking "pick off" was two words.


I've heard of a "fungo bat", but I'm not sure in what context. I think I've heard of it in reference to mob thugs beating someone with one.

Oh, and cheers!

Ah... and I was a bit correct. When I mentioned "shagging FLIES", that is the same as "FUNGO". The practice isn't for the one hitting the balls, it's for the fielders to catch fly balls.

But I would have never gotten fungo. I never heard it called that when I was a kid. I'm not saying it wasn't called that though. I tended to pay little attention, preferring to wear my glove as a hat and kick crawdad "chimneys" while bored in the left field.

Fungo is the name of a ferret in the comic strip "Get Fuzzy," which is about a guy who has talking pets. The pets are all named after baseball players -- Satchel*, the dog, is named after famous pitcher Satchel Page. Bucky, the cat, is named after Bucky Katz. It makes sense that the neighbor's ferret would have a baseball term for a name....


* It's a pun. The dog's full name is Satchel Pooch.

I read Get Fuzzy, but I was unaware of the baseball references.

I was unaware, too. I guess I've learned something today.