warning track

American  

noun

Baseball.

1. a strip, often consisting of a cinder or dirt track, bordering the outer edge of the outfield between the outfield turf and the stadium wall that alerts outfielders that the wall is near, especially as they back up to catch a fly ball.

---

Etymology

Origin of warning track

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

The next two outs were long outs, one to the warning track and one almost as far, balls that might have carried for extra-base hits on a warmer night.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

A dropped fly ball on the warning track in left field by Teoscar Hernández spelled trouble for Yamamoto, scoring a run and allowing Jo Adell to reach second base with nobody out.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2026

Defensive replacement Andy Pages crashed into Kiké Hernández on the warning track but held on to the ball, preventing the Blue Jays from scoring the walk-off run.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 2, 2025

This time, the right-hander had appeared to work his way out of it, after Freddie Freeman hit a deep fly ball that died at the warning track in right-center.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2025

We all bounce to our feet and take off, and by the time we’re running along the warning track in front of the outfield fence, Luis, Ben-Ben, and I are in front.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner