Welcome to Baseball in French, Lesson 12. Previous lessons can be found here.
Today's term is la feinte illégale.
In English, that translates to "the illegal pretense" or "the illegal maneuver". What's the baseball translation?
Balk.
Here's pitcher Bryn Smith on his 1986 Provigo card, trying to avoid any illegal pretenses.
Personally, the term is a bit too stuffy and technical to me. Seems like it would be more fitting to a sport like football. (Illegal pretense, number 28 defense . . . five yard penalty, repeat first down.) "Balk" is just so much more simple and effective. And it's so strongly linked to baseball.
French or English terminology aside, let's link it to Mr. Bryn Smith. He had 16 career balks, including 5 in 1988 alone. 15 of those balks occurred while he was pitching with Montreal. So he was a natural fit for this blog post.
The guy was a pretty good pitcher, though. Across his 13-year career he had a record of 108–94, with a 3.53 ERA, 1028 strikeouts, and 432 walks.
His best season may have been 1985 with Montreal. He put up an 18-5 record with a 2.91 ERA, 2 shutouts, and 127 strikeouts to only 41 walks. He also hit a home run that year. (One of three in his career—not too shabby.)
But man oh man, all those illegal pretenses. I wonder why so many. Maybe Bryn was just a little fidgety on the mound.
What do you readers think about la feinte illégale? Do you like "balk" much better, just like I do?
Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!
Looking at dictionaries, the VERB "balk" translates as "rechigner". I think that would probably be better.
ReplyDeleteGood research, Brett. It's funny. I got the term "feinte illegale" from a list of French baseball terms, so someone must use that one, too.
Delete"Illegal pretense" sounds kind of like the old NBA "illegal defense". I think "balk" is the clear choice here.
ReplyDeleteHeh. Good observation, Jeff!
DeleteI prefer "balk" even if I can't really explain it after watching the sport 40+ years.
ReplyDeleteUnderstood, Fuji. I just looked up the etymology on Merriam-Webster. It's rather detailed and complex!
DeleteBalk is a term that I've never liked. I couldn't tell you why exactly, I just don't like it. Of course too, at this point I don't what it could be replaced with; but it would be nice if someone came up with something different.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we could come up with something, Jon. How about "fidgety pitcher alert!" or maybe another one-word expression? I'll suggest "dork!"
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