In baseball, a pitch thrown close to a batter's body to intimidate them or make them lean back away from the plate.
From 'brush' (to move quickly across a surface) plus 'back,' literally describing the motion of the pitch that forces a batter backward. It became baseball terminology in the early 20th century.
The brushback pitch is legal but dangerous in baseball—it's a form of intimidation embedded in the rules of the game, representing the line between aggressive competition and actual harm that sports officials constantly negotiate.
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