play ball
Verb
Meaning
(idiomatic) To start anything tumultuous.
(idiomatic) To work together; to cooperate.
The politicians refused to play ball with the journalists.
(baseball, softball) An expression used at the beginning of a game of baseball or softball.
Source: en.wiktionary.orgSynonyms
Examples
The only thing I can do is play baseball. I have to play ball. It's the only thing I know.
Russia will occupy most of the good food lands of central Europe while we have the industrial portions. We must find some way of persuading Russia to play ball.
Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was.
Playing sport was somewhat frivolous, but I liked it. I rebelled a little bit, and wouldn't go to music lessons and things like that, but I would go and play ball. My parents learned to love it because they saw how much I got out of it.
I wanted to definitely be a musician or a good preacher or a heck of a baseball player. I couldn't play ball too good - I hurt my finger, and I stopped that. I couldn't preach, and well, all I had left was getting into the music thing.
I ain't afraid to tell the world that it don't take school stuff to help a fella play ball.