As the World Series games heated up a few weeks ago, so did the conversation. But the talk was not as much surrounding the games as it was a piece of jargon linked to the game of baseball: the bullpen.
PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way,” issued a statement during the series claiming the term bullpen in the game of baseball devalue talented players and mock the misery of sensitive animals. Their alternative? Arm Barn.
Here are 5 reasons why the term bullpen should stay – and Arm Barn should never be spoken about again.
- The term “bullpen” didn’t originate from the reference to bulls, so why are we going there?
PETA’s defined bullpen as a place where cows were “hung upside down and their throats are slit in the meat industry” and “tormented into kicking and bucking by being electro-shocked or prodded.” But the term bullpen in the context of baseball didn’t originate from this connotation of the word. The exact origins are debated, but consistently it has been noted that the term came from Bull Durham Tobacco. In the late 1800s the ads for the tobacco brand were in nearly every ballpark and usually where the pitchers warmed up, because they provided shade. It is speculated that the term was a combination of the tobacco brand’s name and the enclosure or ‘pen’ which the pitchers used to warm up. Nowhere in this theory is their reference to slaughtering animals connecting to the slaughtering of pitchers when they enter the game. The name, like many other nicknames in sports, originated from some crazy creative circumstance. It almost makes too much sense to name the bullpen, the bullpen to create a connection between the slaughtering of animals and pitchers in a game.
- Speaking of, the term bullpen has other connotations, other than referencing the slaughtering of animals.
I won’t deny it, the term bullpen can reference the slaughtering of animals. Key word – can. But just because it can doesn’t mean it does. In fact, bullpen has many other meanings, which promote just the opposite. Bullpen in slang and in the business world is considered to be an informal area where junior employees can group up in a room. According to Investopedia, the bullpen can promote “camaraderie and strong work culture.” Bullpens in baseball certainly do the same. There is nothing quite like the connection between a pitcher and their bullpen catcher, as well as pitchers chatting with each other.
- Is this really about the animals?
Detroit Lions Defensive Lineman Nicholas Williams took to Twitter after the announcement of PETA’s statement. He wrote, “lol I talked to the cows, they don’t care.” The cows have absolutely no idea whether we are offending them or not during a game of America’s favorite pastime. The concern for the animals emotions certainly does not seem like a good enough reason to change the term which has been around for over a century. So maybe PETA really thinks this is about the pitchers and their emotions. Okay, if the pitchers are offended by the term that implies they are warming up to get slaughtered in their game, then that would probably mean they aren’t that great of an athlete. Because an athlete with the ability to shut a team down would not be offended by a term that implies they could be shelled in a game. An easy way to avoid this? Spin the ball better.
- If we change the name of the bullpen because it is insensitive, when will it stop?
In the game of baseball, and the female alternative softball, several positions end in the word “man.” Secondbaseman, third baseman, first baseman. Certainly implying a woman, or even a man is playing that position is insensitive in the same way to someone, somewhere. So if we change the name of the bullpen because it offends animals, nothing is off limits. “And the starting secondbaseperson tonight is…”
- Arm Barn is just not a good alternative
“With the game on the line, the coach is calling his ace from the Arm Barn!”
I’d rather never play another pitch of softball than hear that.