Sitting in the Catbird's Seat

Posted by Clayton Platt on November 01, 2000

In Reply to: Sitting in the Catbird's Seat posted by K. Timonen on October 28, 2000

: I had heard long ago that the catbird's seat was the seat in the baseball dugout for the next at-bat after the one on-deck. It would still be a position of being "in control of a situation" as this player might have the scoring run or the go-ahead run. Any thoughts?
: KT
Actually, the spot following the on-deck hitter was traditionally referred to as "in-the-hole." I've always assumed that this was because, unlike the on-deck hitter, the next in line was still in the dugout, or "in the hole." I agree with a subsequent posting referring to Red Barber's use of the catbird seat.