Hardball, in English, more specifically American English, generally refers to

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

(as opposed to its variant

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

), especially when played very competitively. Metaphorically, it refers to uncompromising and ruthless methods or dealings, especially in

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

Computers

* ''Hardball'', a computer game made for the

Palm OS Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...

and similar to ''Breakout'' * ''

HardBall! ''HardBall!'' is a baseball video game published by Accolade. Initially released for the Commodore 64 in 1985, it was ported to other computers over the next several years. A Sega Genesis cartridge was published in 1991. ''HardBall!'' was follow ...

'', a series of computer games about baseball

Films

* ''Hardball'' (film), a 2001 film with Keanu Reeves and Diane Lane ** ''Hardball'' (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the film * ''Hardball'', a 1997 film with

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

Food

* Hardball, a

sugar stage Candy making or candymaking is the preparation and cookery of Candy, candies and Sugar confectionery, sugar confections. Candy making includes the preparation of many various candies, such as Hard candy, hard candies, jelly beans, gumdrops, taff ...

in the making of candy and other confectionery

Literature

* ''Hardball — How Politics is Played Told By One Who Knows the Game'', a book by

Chris Matthews Christopher John Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', on America's Talking and later on M ...

, a political talk-show host *

Hardball (comics) ''Avengers: The Initiative'' is a comic book series from Marvel Comics. Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage with artwork initially by Stefano Caselli, Steve Uy and Harvey Tolibao, the series deals with the aftermath of Marvel's "Civil War" s ...

, a superhero in the ''Avengers: The Initiative'' series from Marvel Comics * ''Hardball'', a comic book series written by

Chuck Austen Chuck Austen (born Chuck Beckum)
Kees Kousemaker's Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved November 14, 2011. is an Ameri ...

* ''Hardball'' (novel), 2009 detective novel by

Sara Paretsky Sara Paretsky (born June 8, 1947) is an American author of detective fiction, best known for her novels focused on the protagonist V. I. Warshawski. Life and career Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa. Her father was a microbiologist and moved the ...

, part of the

V. I. Warshawski Victoria Iphigenia "Vic" "V. I." Warshawski is a fictional private investigator from Chicago who is the protagonist featured in a series of detective novels and short stories written by Chicago author Sara Paretsky. With the exception of "The ...

series

Sports

Hardball squash Hardball squash is a format of the indoor racquet sport squash which was first developed in North America in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It is sometimes referred to as being the "American version" of the sport. Compared to the "Br ...

, a racquet sport * Hardball, a type of handball used in Gaelic handball#Types of handball * , an extreme shooting game utilizing

BB gun A BB gun is a type of air gun designed to shoot metallic spherical projectiles called BBs (not to be confused with similar-looking bearing balls), which are approximately the same size as BB-size lead birdshot used on shotguns ( in diameter ...

s which fire metal projectiles

Television

* ''

Hardball with Chris Matthews ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'' was an American television talk show that was hosted by Chris Matthews. The program premiered on the now-defunct America's Talking network in 1994 (as ''Politics with Chris Matthews'') before moving on CNBC, and ...

'', a talk show on MSNBC hosted by Chris Matthews * " Hard Ball", an episode of the television series ''30 Rock'' * ''Hardball'' (1989 TV series), a one-season 1989 crime drama television series that aired on NBC * ''Hardball'' (1994 TV series), a 1994 television series, unrelated to the 1989 series, that aired on FOX * ''Hardball'' (2019 TV series), an Australian children's TV series * ''Hardball'', a BBC One game show hosted by

Ore Oduba Ore Oduba (born 17 November 1986) is a British television and radio presenter who has also worked as an actor. He is best known for winning the fourteenth series of BBC One's ''Strictly Come Dancing'' in 2016. He presented the CBBC news program ...

Fictional characters

* Hardball, of the alien Bounty Hunters working for Damocles and the Sword in the

Gen¹³ ''Gen¹³'' is a superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. It was published by WildStorm under the Image Comics banner, which went on to become an imprint (trade name ...

comics and the Fire from Heaven crossover.

Other uses

Hardball (company) Hardball is a Norwegian investment company founded in 2004 to finance player transfers for the association football team SK Brann from Bergen, Norway. Former news editor at Norwegian TV 2 and managing director of software company Vizrt, Bjarne B ...

, a Norwegian investment company. * Hardball, a slang term used for

full metal jacket bullet A full metal jacket (FMJ) bullet is a small-arms projectile consisting of a soft core (often lead) encased in an outer shell ("jacket") of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel, or, less commonly, a steel alloy. A bullet jacket usual ...

pistol ammunition, particularly in .45 ACP caliber *

Hardball (G.I. Joe) This is an alphabetical list of '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' characters who are members of the G.I. Joe Team. For Cobra characters, see ''List of Cobra characters''. Ace Agent Faces Agent Faces is the G.I. Joe Team's infiltrator. H ...

, a fictional character in the G.I. Joe universe {{disambiguation