Dictionary definition of “Bugs Bunny changeup”

Bugs Bunny changeup

n. in baseball, a slow pitch disguised as a fast ball which seems to stop in front of the plate. Subjects: English, United States, Baseball, Sports & Recreation, Slang

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Citations: [1993 Javier Morales Arizona Daily Star (June 30) “Barrett’s ‘super slow ball’ baffles Edmonton” p. 5D: I perplexed them with my super slow ball.…I think I remember Bugs Bunny saying that once.] 1997 John Henderson Denver Post (Colo.) (May 5) “Schilling might have looked nice in purple”: Catcher Jeff Reed calls the superb changeup by Philadelphia’s Mark Portugal a “Bugs Bunny changeup.” Why? “Because it just stops right there,” Reed said. 2004 Mark Whicker @ Omaha, Neb. Mercury News (San Jose, California) (June 25) “Fullerton’s Sarver an unlikely story”: The newest entry into the baseball vernacular is “Bugs Bunny changeup.” Translation: It rushes up to the plate and then suddenly stops. Sarver fed the Gamecocks carrots and lettuce all night.

Posted 29 Jun 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

From ADS-L, Oct 15, 2005:
‘Surely the “Bug Bunny change-up” is so-called because of the scene in the classic “Baseball Bugs” (1946) where Bugs is able to ring up multiple strikes on the same ultraslow pitch? (“One-two-three-str ikes-yer-out!”)
—Ben Zimmer

by Tom Kysilko 20 Dec 06, 0319 GMT

Just saw it for the first time. Rick Ankiel of the Cards hit a homer of Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels last night and had this to say:

“Sometimes they’re tougher for me when they’re at an angle,” Ankiel said of his battles against lefthanded pitchers. “He wasn’t so much at an angle but that changeup was really tough, a Bugs Bunny change-up.”

Being a baseball junkie, I had to look it up :o)

by Joe Kyle 09 Jul 08, 0303 GMT