Meaning??

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on July 16, 2004

In Reply to: Meaning?? posted by * Danger Kitty * on July 16, 2004

: : Information I have found on the internet indicates it may have been said originally about George H. W. Bush (a.k.a. Bush 41), by either Jim Hightower or Ann Richards in 1988 at the Democratic convention. It's been liberally applied to Dubya recently.

: : I tend to think it was Hightower who said it, since Ms. Richards already has that one about "born with a silver foot in his mouth".

: I confess I know precious little about baseball, so if you could, please tell me what the phrase means.
: TIA.

Hello Danger Kitty, (love that name, by the way).

In baseball, in order to score a run (a point is called a "run" in baseball), a player starts out at home plate. He then tries to make it safely to first base, then second, then third, and finally if he makes it back to home plate without being tagged or forced "out" then he scores a run for his team.

Being "on third base" means that you need to advance only one base in order to score. Hitting a "triple" means that you've hit the ball so well you've gotten all the way to third base. (The only thing better is a "home run", where the ball is usually hit over the fence and you score right away.)

So a person who has scored a run, but was "born on third base" hasn't really achieved anything more than the person who has gotten only to first base. Each one has only advanced one base from where they started.

• Born with a silver foot in his mouth ESC (USA) 18/July/04