2.) Your first example is erroneous. The term Balk was not coined by baseball, but is rather quite an old english word deriving from the middle english that has been adopted by baseball, and sports in general. The American Heritage dictionary offers the following definition: "To stop short and refuse to go on: The horse balked at the jump. 2. To refuse obstinately or abruptly: She balked at the very idea of compromise. 3a. Sports To make an incomplete or misleading motion. b. Baseball To make an illegal motion before pitching, allowing one or more base runners to advance one base. "  There are lots of expressions that have come into the english vernacular mainly of course by way of the US, such as "Ballpark estimate", "You were off base on that one", and "he's out in left field", Some relational failures and successes are referred to as "striking out" or "getting to first base".