Sergey Brin's immigrant story is as American as, well, batting .350

Some have said baseball holds the answers to life's mysteries. But Google (GOOG) co-founder Sergey Brin seemed baffled by John Battelle's baseball metaphor during Brin's "surprise" visit to the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco last week. Battelle mentioned the oft-heard complaint that Google is trying to do "too much" and is venturing too far afield from its core search ad competency. So, Battelle asked Brin if Google was trying to swing at many different pitches hoping to bat .350, which is excellent, and would win Major League Baseball's batting title in most years.

According to a report by VentureBeat, "Brin said he isn't familiar with baseball." Battelle explained that it means getting a hit in 35 percent of a player's at-bats, and Brin answered, "I hope we fare better than that."