Dial 8

This time, I’d like to talk about baseball slang. As a Japanese person living in Japan, I’m not sure how often what’s known as English baseball slang is actually used in the United States. Let me give you some examples of such slang.

1) The protagonist of the American film “Meet John Doe” (1941) starring Gary Cooper is a baseball player. As for what level of baseball player he is, the protagonist himself refers to himself as a “bush league” baseball player. In this old 1941 film, the term “bush league” is used to mean minor league, but is the term “bush league” still used in everyday life to mean minor league in the United States?

DVD of the movie “Meet John Doe” (Japanese version)

Speaking of which, the term “bush league” is included in English-Japanese dictionaries published in Japan, and is explained as minor league slang, but I think very few Major League Baseball fans in Japan are aware that “bush league” is slang for minor league.

2) In the American film “The Rookie” (2002) starring Dennis Quaid, there is a scene in which the protagonist, the manager of a high school baseball team, comes out of the dugout to announce a pitcher change during the game and shouts “Blue!” Furthermore, there is a scene in a minor league game where the manager comes out of the dugout to announce a pitcher change and shouts “Blue!”

DVD of the movie “The Rookie” (Japanese version)

I once read in a book that, because baseball umpires wear blue uniforms, “blue” has long been slang for umpire in the United States. Even in The Rookie, which was made in 2002, the term “blue” seems to be used to mean umpire, but is the term still actually used to mean umpire in the United States today? And is this something that all baseball fans in the United States know?  

Speaking of which, I don’t think there are many Major League Baseball fans in Japan who know that blue is slang for umpire; it’s not even listed in English-Japanese dictionaries published in Japan.

Now, onto the main topic of this article.

“Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” (2003) by Michael Lewis is a masterpiece of nonfiction. It was so fascinating that I read it in one sitting with excitement. I don’t think I need to explain what it’s about, since any baseball fan knows it.

“MONEYBALL” by Michael Lewis (Japanese translation version, translated by Yu Nakayama, Random House Kodansha Co., Ltd., 2004)

There’s just one thing that bothers me about this wonderful book: the title. I once read in a book that there is a slang term in the United States called “money ball,” which means “home run.” So, to me, the title doesn’t seem to fit the purpose and content of this book. To be clear, this is just my personal opinion and may be wrong.

It seems that there are several other slang terms for “home run” in the United States that have existed for a long time. Let me introduce one more of them.

“MADE IN AMERICA: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States” by Bill Bryson (1994) is a masterpiece that explains a great many words in various fields in the United States. It was while reading this book that I first learned of a slang term for home run: “dial 8.” ...In hotels in the United States, when making a long-distance call from a room, it was required to dial 8 first. So, “dial 8” became slang for a home run because the ball of a home run flied a long distance. However, I think this slang has fallen out of use recently, as I think that nowadays how to make a long-distance call changed and most hotels and motels in the United States require long distance calls to be made by dialing 9 first.

“MADE IN AMERICA” by Bill Bryson (Japanese translation version, translated by Tetsuo Kinoshita, Kawade Shobo Shinsha Publishers inc., 1997)

But is “dial 8” still used as slang for a home run in the United States? And do all baseball fans in the United States know that “dial 8” is slang for a home run?

(If I’ve made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I’ll try to make corrections or additions.)