left field

listen to the pronunciation of left field
English - English
The defensive position in the outfield to the left
An unexpected, bizarre, or unwatched source (especially in the phrases out of left field and from left field)

Some of her comments really came from left field. I have no idea what she was thinking.

An unusual or unexpected position, or a viewpoint held by very few others in contrast to the majority viewpoint (especially in the phrases out in left field and way out in left field)
The part of a baseball field which is beyond the infield and to your left if you stand on home plate and face the pitcher
(deyim) The part of a baseball out-field to the batter's left

Right-handed batters usually hit to left field.

Left-field means slightly odd or unusual. a left-field cabaret act Her parents were creative and left-field and wanted Polly to become a singer or a truck driver. = unconventional
If you say that someone or something has come out of left field or is out in left field, you mean that they are untypical, unusual, or strange in some way. The question came out of left field, but Mary Ann wasn't really surprised He is, like most theorists, out there in left field, ignoring the experimental evidence
the piece of ground in the outfield on the catcher's left
the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is expected to field balls in the left third of the outfield (looking from home plate) the piece of ground in the outfield on the catcher's left
the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is expected to field balls in the left third of the outfield (looking from home plate)
lf
leftfield
From out of left field; off the wall
out in the left field
(deyim) 1. Far from the right answer; wrong; astray. 2. Speaking or acting very queerly; crazy

1. Johnny tried to answer the teacher's question but he was way out in left field. 2. Susan tried to guess what the surprise was but she was way out in left field. 3. The girl next door was always queer, but after her father died, she was really out in left field and had to go to a hospital.

out of left field
(deyim) The phrase "out of left field" is popular vernacular (first attested in 1961) meaning "wildly unrelated to the subject being discussed", and "out in left field" means "a little crazy". One theory is that this refers to the popularity of seats in right field at Yankee Stadium while Babe Ruth was playing that position; buying a seat in left field would have been "stupid". Another theory is that this arose at Chicago's second West Side Park, home of the Chicago Cubs from 1893 to 1915. After the Cubs moved to what is now Wrigley Field, the West Side Park property eventually became the home of the University of Illinois College of Medicine. The U of I built its Neuropsychiatric Institute building in what had been left field. A third theory comes directly from experience of players. A runner attempting to score at home has his back to the left field, thus a throw to the plate coming from left field can arrive as a surprise to the runner
left field
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