In his wheelhouse

[Alice Faber]

Sparlin, Don M. said:
>Colleagues,
>
>Our local color commentator for the Cardinals baseball team, Mike Shannon,
>uses the phrase "right in his wheel house" when describing a pitch thrown to
>the liking of the hitter.  This is used when the hitter subsequently drives
>the ball especially well and to a good location in, or out of, the field.
>
>The wheel house of a river boat is the center of control.  If a thing is in
>the wheel house it is under control.
>
>My inquiry is whether this expression is primarily used by sportscasters
>located in river towns, such as St. Louis and Cincinnati, where the
>connection would seem more appropriate.  Does anyone have another occurance
>of this phrase to report?

I thought this was part of the Baseball Announcers' Cliche Dictionary.

Seriously, though, I watch a *lot* of baseball (in the CT market, we have
regular access to Mets, Yankees, Braves, and Red Sox games, in addition to
ESPN and Fox national telecasts), and I know I've heard the expression any
number of times, but I couldn't tell you whether it was all from one
announcer.
--
Alice Faber                                       tel. (203) 865-6163
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