Why do they call it the BULL PEN?
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Only one of the word's origin was even close to the mark.
The explanation holding the most is in baseball's early days (pre-1920's) the bull pen was typically located in left field. "Standard ball park advertising was with very large billboards. One was located in left field fence advertising Bull Durham tobacco."
Hence the name.
Regards
Bear
The explanation holding the most is in baseball's early days (pre-1920's) the bull pen was typically located in left field. "Standard ball park advertising was with very large billboards. One was located in left field fence advertising Bull Durham tobacco."
Hence the name.
Regards
Bear
I don't think anyone really "knows", I've heard or read a number of explanations, from the fences enclosing standing fans at field level being called bullpens (then that bit of ground being surrendered to the pitchers) to the Bull Durham ads. It could be as simple as where one keeps a collection of studs.
On Deck, In the Hole, K, Annies....baseballs taken their terminology from n interesting and broad range of sources. Bless those colorful writers!
On Deck, In the Hole, K, Annies....baseballs taken their terminology from n interesting and broad range of sources. Bless those colorful writers!
Casey Stengel said that it is called the "Bullpen" because back in the day pitchers used to stand around and "shoot the bull" (talk) in between when the game started and before they had to warm up...
There is also other theories to why it it called a "Bullpen"... one being that of one used to be located near the billboard for Bull Durham tobacco, thus ended up being called the bullpen
BULL PEN - "There are a lot of theories about the origin of 'bull pen,' - including the obvious one based on the resemblance between the cages where relief pitchers warm up and the enclosures where bulls are kept before being sent charging into the bull ring. However, we discussed this some years ago with our friend Moe Berg, the only life member of the Linguistic Society of America ever to play big-league ball. Matter of fact, Moe played fifteen seasons in the majors, mostly in the American League, winding up with the Boston Red Sox in the late 1930s, when he doubled in brass as a panelist on the 'Information, Please' radio show...We go into all this background to show that it's safe to say that Moe spent more time in 'bull pens' than any other catcher of his era. As a brilliant student of language (a Princeton Ph.D.), he had plenty of time to think about the origin of the name 'bull pen' while he was warming up the second-string pitchers. It was Moe's conclusion that none of the highfalutin theories of the word's origin was even close to the mark. The true explanation, he told us, is that in baseball's early days the bull pen was usually located in left field and standard equipment in ball parks of the period was a large billboard on the left field fence advertising Bull Durham tobacco." "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).
Also it could be due to it being enclosed like that of a pen where bulls are kept
Also: And yet another explanation, not even directly associated with baseball, may be the origin. The term bullpen was used as early as 1809 to refer to a stockade or jail. By 1903, O. Henry was using the term to refer to any waiting area. Perhaps the generic term for waiting area simply became a more specialized term when applied to the sport.
Another could be: "Another, perhaps somewhat more likely, theory comes not from the use of relievers, but rather from late-arriving fans. In the 1870s, and perhaps earlier, after the game had started tickets would be sold at a discount. These late arriving fans with cheap tickets would be herded into a roped-off, standing-room-only area in foul territory. Because the fans were herded in like cattle, the area was known as the bullpen. In 1877 the Cincinnati Enquirer used the term to describe this practice. The name for this area of foul territory stuck, and later when relief pitchers became part of the game, they used this area of foul territory to warm up. After that, the term bullpen stuck to relievers.
And lastly: Almond suggests that the origin came because a pitcher who had been knocked out of the box had been "slaughtered," and that reliever was just another bull to be slaughtered too. This explanation seems to be a reach.
It is uncertain what where the term "bullpen" originated, but those are just some theories that people have suggested overtime.
There is also other theories to why it it called a "Bullpen"... one being that of one used to be located near the billboard for Bull Durham tobacco, thus ended up being called the bullpen
BULL PEN - "There are a lot of theories about the origin of 'bull pen,' - including the obvious one based on the resemblance between the cages where relief pitchers warm up and the enclosures where bulls are kept before being sent charging into the bull ring. However, we discussed this some years ago with our friend Moe Berg, the only life member of the Linguistic Society of America ever to play big-league ball. Matter of fact, Moe played fifteen seasons in the majors, mostly in the American League, winding up with the Boston Red Sox in the late 1930s, when he doubled in brass as a panelist on the 'Information, Please' radio show...We go into all this background to show that it's safe to say that Moe spent more time in 'bull pens' than any other catcher of his era. As a brilliant student of language (a Princeton Ph.D.), he had plenty of time to think about the origin of the name 'bull pen' while he was warming up the second-string pitchers. It was Moe's conclusion that none of the highfalutin theories of the word's origin was even close to the mark. The true explanation, he told us, is that in baseball's early days the bull pen was usually located in left field and standard equipment in ball parks of the period was a large billboard on the left field fence advertising Bull Durham tobacco." "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).
Also it could be due to it being enclosed like that of a pen where bulls are kept
Also: And yet another explanation, not even directly associated with baseball, may be the origin. The term bullpen was used as early as 1809 to refer to a stockade or jail. By 1903, O. Henry was using the term to refer to any waiting area. Perhaps the generic term for waiting area simply became a more specialized term when applied to the sport.
Another could be: "Another, perhaps somewhat more likely, theory comes not from the use of relievers, but rather from late-arriving fans. In the 1870s, and perhaps earlier, after the game had started tickets would be sold at a discount. These late arriving fans with cheap tickets would be herded into a roped-off, standing-room-only area in foul territory. Because the fans were herded in like cattle, the area was known as the bullpen. In 1877 the Cincinnati Enquirer used the term to describe this practice. The name for this area of foul territory stuck, and later when relief pitchers became part of the game, they used this area of foul territory to warm up. After that, the term bullpen stuck to relievers.
And lastly: Almond suggests that the origin came because a pitcher who had been knocked out of the box had been "slaughtered," and that reliever was just another bull to be slaughtered too. This explanation seems to be a reach.
It is uncertain what where the term "bullpen" originated, but those are just some theories that people have suggested overtime.