Hardball字面解释是“硬球”，play hardball是什么意思？请看对话：

    A: What happened? The bank clerk called several times this morning.

    B: The company is playing hardball with the bank, holding back on payments it owes them to force an agreement.

    Note: Hardball is another name for the adult male version of the game of baseball. For women and children, they use a softer ball to throw about. Their game is called softball. Women and children use the softer ball because they don’t want anyone to get hurt. As for adult males, apparently getting hurt playing is among the lesser concerns. From the game of baseball comes this expression. It means to “act strong and aggressive about an issue with someone.”