out in left field

noun

1. Baseball.
   1. the area of the outfield to the left of center field, as viewed from home plate.
   2. the position of the player covering this area.
2. Slang. a position or circumstance that is remote from an ordinary or general trend.

Idioms

3. out in left field, Slang. completely mistaken; wrong.

Also, out of left field. Eccentric, odd; also, mistaken. For example, The composer’s use of dissonance in this symphony is way out in left field, or His answer was out of left field; he was totally wrong. This idiom refers to baseball’s left field but the precise allusion is disputed. Among the theories proposed is that in some ballparks the left field wall is farther from the batter than the wall in right field. Another is that in early ballparks, left field was often larger than right field and therefore was home to more lost balls and general confusion. [Mid-1900s] Also see far out. see out in left field.