call balls and strikes

verb

To act as a home plate umpire.

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Meanings

verbcall balls and strikes (third-person singular simple present calls balls and strikes, present participle calling balls and strikes, simple past and past participle called balls and strikes)

present singular third person calls balls and strikes · participle present calling balls and strikes · participle past called balls and strikes · past called balls and strikes

  1. USball gamesTo act as a home plate umpire.

    The San Rafael Pacifics and Vallejo Admirals, two independent (not major league-affiliated) minor league teams, recently played two games using a computer system, rather than the home plate umpire, to call balls and strikes.

    2015 August 10, Alex Shultz, “Rise of the machines? Baseball weighs use of automated strike zone”, in LA Times
  2. USbroadlyTo act impartially.

    Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot said Thursday she wants and expects Inspector General Joe Ferguson to “call balls and strikes” during her administration and sees no reason their friendship would conflict with his role as a city watchdog.

    2019 May 13, Fran Spielman, “Watchdog should stay, call ‘balls and strikes’ despite our friendship: Lightfoot”, in Chicago Sun-Times
Cite this entry
APA

call balls and strikes. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/call%20balls%20and%20strikes

MLA

“call balls and strikes.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/call%20balls%20and%20strikes. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “call balls and strikes,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/call%20balls%20and%20strikes.

Source: call balls and strikes on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.