battery

In baseball, the battery is the pitcher and the catcher, who may also be called batterymen, or batterymates in relation to one another. History Origins of the term The use of the word 'battery' in baseball was first coined by Henry Chadwick in the 1860s in reference to the firepower of a team's pitching staff and inspired by the artillery batteries then in use in the American Civil War. Later, the term evolved to indicate the combined effectiveness of pitcher and catcher. Pitching to a preferred batterymate Throughout the history of baseball, although teams have typically carried multiple catchers, star pitchers have often preferred the familiarity of working consistently with a single batterymate.