James Carville Stays Abreast of Current Events

A creative entry to the offbeat (and, relatively off-color) baseball lexicon came from a most unlikely source, as political strategist James Carville tells Rolling Stone magazine that President Obama extending his predecessor's tax cuts for the not terribly wealthy is a "titty high fastball."

If I'm understanding the Bayou boy correctly, Carville is saying that doing so was, to mix sports metaphors, a slam dunk for our president. A no-brainer. In baseball terms, a cookie or a meatball.

"This is what they call in baseball a 'titty high fastball,'" says Carville. "You better swing at it."

I'm not exactly sure who the "they" that Carville refers to are--it's hardly a mainstream term. Googling "titty high fastball" yields but three results.

One site, SethSaith.blogspot.com, recounts Ernie Banks speaking to a room full of kids.
Hopefully nobody's parents got too uptight when Banks humorously recalled Satchel Paige asking him if he could hit a "titty high fastball," especially as far more exuberantly than when discussing his diamond exploits, Ernie urged the youngsters to "learn something new every day."

Another, a chat room on South Carolina sports, features a discussion on fastballs that come in north of the chest, but south of the eyes.

It's all about eye level. The funny thing is that a titty high fastball is meat but a chin or eye high fastball is unhittable, unless you're Ron Gant.

[image: nytimes]