Uncle Charlie

[ uhng-kuhl chahr-lee ]

noun

, Baseball Slang.

1. curveball ( def ):

   When this guy delivers his Uncle Charlie, there’s not a left-handed hitter in the league who can get on base.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Uncle Charlie¹

First recorded in 1930–35; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

A 2021 film version of The Tender Bar produced by Mr Clooney cast Affleck as the aforementioned Uncle Charlie.

From BBC

Mr Moehringer's own 2005 autobiography on the subject, The Tender Bar, discussed his childhood in Long Island being raised by a single mother, and finding a father figure in his Uncle Charlie and a pack of barflies at the local watering hole.

From BBC

“He was throwing a nice changeup off that. Obviously he’s got the Uncle Charlie. It was classic Waino out there.”

From Seattle Times

To play the role of Uncle Charlie, Affleck drew not only on his difficult relationship with his father, an aspiring playwright who drank too much and worked for a time as a bartender while Affleck was growing up, but also on his own wellspring of life experience.

From Los Angeles Times

Uncle Charlie dispenses his street smart wisdom — "the male sciences" he calls it — to teach JR how to be a man.

From Salon