I spoke with William Nakai, a fluent Navajo speaker who put together a list of Navajo colloquial baseball terms for the Navajo Times following Jacoby Ellsbury's meteoric rise this year-- and thought I would share his list of Navajo terms with y'all as well.

• socks red - Yiis'tlee' Lichii (proper Navajo)


• balls - yii'nilth'nii (he let it go)


• strikes - yii'sih (he missed it)


• one strike - taa'la'i'yii'sih


• second strike - naa'kih'dih'yii'sih


• third strike - taa'dih'yii'sih'dooh'naah'jiih'hal'te'


• hits - yiis'taalth (he hit it with a stick)


• runs - a'heeh'nal'wod (he ran completely around [the bases])


• outs - naah'jiih'hal'te' (he was taken out)


• change of innings - aalth'na'iil'dee' or aalth'na'naa'kaih (they switched)


• first base - la'sil'tzooz (first bag)


• second base - naa'kih'goone'sil'tzooz (second place bag)


• third base - taa'goone'sil tzooz (third place bag)


• home base - hogaan'dih'silth'tzooz ("hogan" or home base)