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All glove/no bat

Posted by Bob on April 25, 2008 at 21:16:

In Reply to: All glove/no bat posted by Smokey Stover on April 25, 2008 at 20:53:

: : : What does "all glove/no bat" mean? My sense is that it means a player has only defensive capabilities, and no offensive skills. Can someone explain what it might mean more generally? I just read an article describing former-President George H. W. Bush as "an all-glove, no-bat first baseman".

: : I assume you're talking about this article [Dead link removed - ed]

: : GHW Bush was the captain of the baseball team in high school and at Yale. He played first base. It's a literal statement not some sort of allegorical dig.

: I found the "huffpost" article a bit confusing, and did not find the actual quote. However, my take is that the person quoted was doing a riff on the well-known cliché, "all hat and no cattle," although its consanguinity to "all glove and no bat" is hard to see. Everyone on the team bats, after all; I'm sure GWB was not excluded.
: SS

Not excluded, but minimally skilled. The rearest kind of baseball player, the ones the scouts drool over, is the "5-tool player" meaning they excel in 5 separate skills: run, throw, field the ball, hit for power and hit for average. the other 99% have at least two talents or they can't make it to the big leagues. GWB was apparently a good fielder, but not an offensive threat.

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