cover all the bases

06:23 Jul 21, 2009 

So you imagine this situation in baseball.

21:40 Jul 20, 2009 

I feel that all of the best possible explanations for the idiom 'cover all the bases' have been written by the experts who have contributed here, as well as your own research. The phrase 'touch all the bases' means to specifically go over, study, or mention every possible point or detail. But not necessarily in order. So many business coaches or managers (USA) use the language of sports, particularly baseball, to 'connect' an idea or get a point across in a way that their employees can personally relate to. So they think. As Tony mentioned, 'dropping the ball' makes no sense unless it is standard practice for sports terms to be used as analogies to business practices. If one 'drops the ball' it could mean a variety of things, from 'quitting' to 'slacking' to simply not following through on something, big or small. So, as Jim has said, these catch phrases (not to make a pun) are used in life and business all the time, and in baseball, rarely. Is there something you need here regarding baseball that is, like a 'pop-fly', going over our heads?

18:28 Jul 20, 2009 

...at least not any more. This is much more commonly heard outside of baseball.

18:06 Jul 20, 2009 

baseball
Depending on which one is meant, the figurative meaning will be somewhat different.

17:42 Jul 20, 2009 

The expression is taken from baseball but you don't have to be an expert in baseball to understand what it means. You seem to have done extensive research and understand both the literal and figurative meaning of the expression. What question do you still have?

17:35 Jul 20, 2009 

Because this boils down to those very specific baseball terms.