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

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

(as opposed to its variant

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

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

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and business negotiations: see Glossary of English-language idioms derived from baseball#hardball, play hardball.

Computers

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

Palm OS Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) is a discontinued 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. ...

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 followe ...

'', 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 * '' Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball'' aka ''Hardball'', a 1997 film with

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

Food

* Hardball, a

sugar stage Candy making is the preparation and cookery of candies and sugar confections. Candy making includes the preparation of many various candies, such as hard candies, jelly beans, gumdrops, taffy, liquorice, cotton candy, chocolates and chocola ...

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 handles the aftermath of Marvel's "Civil War" sto ...

, 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 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 "B ...

, 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 in shotguns ( in diameter) ...

s which fire metal projectiles

Television

* ''

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

'', a talk show on MSNBC hosted by Chris Matthews * "

Hard Ball "Hard Ball" (also known as "Negotiation") is the fifteenth episode of NBC's first season of ''30 Rock''. It was written by one of the season's co-producers, Matt Hubbard, and directed by one of the season's supervising producers, Don Scardino ...

", 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 1985) is a British television and radio presenter who has also worked as an actor. From 2008 until 2013, he presented the CBBC news programme '' Newsround''. In 2018 he hosted the game show ''And They're Off!'' in a ...

Fictional characters

* Hardball, of the alien Bounty Hunters working for Damocles and the Sword in the Gen¹³ 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 Brann from Bergen, Norway. Former news editor at Norwegian TV 2 and managing director of software company Vizrt, Bjarne Ber ...

, 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 usua ...

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 Ace is the G.I. Joe Team's original fighter pilot. His real name ...

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