In baseball, a line drive is a type of batted ball, sharply hit, and on (or slightly above) a level trajectory. The threshold between a line drive (also sometimes called a liner or frozen rope) and a fly ball can be subjective.
Line drives can be dangerous to baseball players and spectators. For example, on July 22, 2007, Tulsa Drillers first base coach Mike Coolbaugh was killed in a line drive accident at an away game with the Arkansas Travelers.
On August 18, 2012, Boston Red Sox pitching prospect Brian Johnson (at the time playing for Lowell Spinners) broke multiple orbital bones when he was struck by a line drive in a game at Fenway Park.
Famous quotes containing the words line and/or drive:
“There’s a line between love and fascination that’s hard to see on an evening such as this.”
—Ned Washington (1901–1976)
“We do not want them to have less.
But it is only natural that we should think we have not enough.
We drive on, we drive on.
When we speak to each other our voices are a little gruff.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)