play hardball
idiom

- to behave in an unpleasant, threatening way so that you get what you want

Cambridge Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

The phrase to "play hardball" is an American sports metaphor.

In baseball, America's national sport, the ball that is used is extremely hard. It has four layers. At the centre is a rubber core, which is wrapped by a layer of cork. Twine, a type of robust string, is then wrapped around the core followed by a layer of tough leather. The ball used in cricket is very similar.

In the late 1800s, George Hancock invented an indoor game called softball. The idea was to give baseball players a way to practice during Chicago's freezing winter. The ball he invented was bigger and softer than a normal baseball. The players didn't need gloves to catch it and the ball was not so hard as to damage any furniture or windows. Thus the game of "softball" was born.

Softball eventually moved outdoors and became a favourite pastime of men who liked the game of baseball, but were not young, strong or fast enough to play (in baseball, a batter must try to hit a ball thrown at speeds approaching 140 kilometres per hour).

So in the world of business and politics in particular, playing hardball came to mean being a tough negotiator, not backing down from one's position on an issue and not compromising. Someone accused of playing softball on the other hand is viewed as weak and ineffectual.

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SYNONYMS

bully, pressure, coerce, browbeat, drive a hard bargain, force, lean on

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ANTONYMS

accommodate, compromise, concede, go fifty-fifty, negotiate, meet halfway, settle

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Practice OWAD in a conversation:

"Jim believes it's in the company's best interests to PLAY HARDBALL when negotiating with suppliers."