Bullpen car
The bullpen car, also known as a bullpen cart, is used in
History
The first bullpen car introduced in
In 1963, the
The Seattle Mariners began using a version designed to look like a tugboat in 1982,[6] called the M.S. Relief. On Opening Day of the 1982 season, the Mariners' Bill Caudill hid the keys to the bullpen car, causing a delay in the start of the game.[7] Caudill organized a boycott of the tugboat, saying that it "should be fined as an embarrassment to the team".[8] No Mariners player ever rode in the tugboat, and it was removed from use less than a week later.[2][9]
Pitchers disliked the bullpen cars, leading to them being phased out. The last MLB team to use a bullpen car prior to its reintroduction in 2018 was Milwaukee, which phased out their motorcycle (which was also produced by Harley-Davidson) in 1995.[1]
The bullpen car remained in use in Japanese baseball. Most of them are convertibles so that fans can see the players inside, including many one-offs provided to the teams by the manufacturer. In the 1980s, the
In KBO League in South Korea, Kia Tigers uses Kia EV9 as their bullpen car in 2023 Season. [16] It started to use since 2014, when Gwangju-Kia Champions Field Opened and uses their lineup as bullpen cars.
The
With an increasing focus on speeding up the pace of play of MLB games, MLB had a committee discuss bringing back the bullpen car in 2015.[18][19] The Arizona Diamondbacks announced they would introduce their first bullpen car prior to the 2018 season.[20] While the car was available on Opening Day, March 29, 2018, the first reliever to make use of it was Collin McHugh on May 5, 2018, for a sixth-inning relief role in the Diamondbacks' 18th home game of the season.[21] The Detroit Tigers were the second team to introduce a bullpen car, on April 13, 2018,[22] and the Washington Nationals became the third team to introduce one, on August 17, 2018.[23] A bullpen car designed to look like a baseball glove was used during the 2020 Summer Olympics.[24][25]
References
- ^ a b Lukas, Paul (October 19, 2007). "Lukas: Long live the bullpen car". Espn. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Fitzgerald, Craig (October 25, 2013). "Bullpen Cars: How '70s World Series Pitchers Went to the Mound". Yahoo.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ Foran, Chris (August 9, 2016). "Our Back Pages: County Stadium's pioneering bullpen cart". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ a b c Clair, Michael (February 2, 2018). "The life, death and rebirth of the bullpen cart". MLB.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ a b Caldwell, Dave (October 11, 2012). "A Baseball Veteran Returns to the Mound: The Bullpen Car". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ Bierman, Fred (August 2, 2010). "Nice Ride". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ Perry, Dayn (October 31, 2013). "Just because: The greatest bullpen car of all-time". CBSSports.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ "M's pen: Thought weak before season, relief corps has been strong suit". The Seattle Times. May 19, 1982. p. D1.
- ^ Finnigan, Bob (April 20, 1982). "Relievers scuttle boat gimmick". The Seattle Times. p. D2.
- ^ "Video: Custom Nissans used for baseball promos". Japanese Nostalgic Car. April 7, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Andrews, Kendra (April 11, 2017). "Yokohama DeNA BayStars' Bullpen Car Is Electric Nissan Leaf With Zero Emissions". SportTechie. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
- ^ Landers, Chris. "This Japanese league closer rode in from the bullpen atop a sweet sports car". MLB.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ Axisa, Mike (June 27, 2017). "Watch: Japanese league closer enters the game from the bullpen in a convertible". CBSSports.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ INC, SANKEI DIGITAL (December 30, 2017). "2017年大活躍したマスコットたちのフォト集/ヤクルト". サンスポ.
- ^ "YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ 이, 후광 (August 26, 2023). "KIA 타이거즈, 시구·불펜카로 대형 전기 SUV EV9 선보인다". 조선비즈. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
- ^ "C'mon And Take A Free Ride". ESPN. June 6, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ Crasnick, Jerry (March 31, 2015). "Time to bring back bullpen carts?". ESPN. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ Anderson, R.J. (February 2, 2018). "MLB is reportedly considering bringing back bullpen carts to improve pace of play: Bullpen carts are viewed as a potential answer to the pace of play problem". CBS Sports. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ Rovell, Darren (March 6, 2018). "Golf cart to bring in relief pitchers is reborn with Diamondbacks". ESPN. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ "In 18th game, new D-backs bullpen cart makes first trip". ESPN. May 6, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
- ^ "Tigers set to unveil new bullpen cart Friday, and you're going to want to see the design". CBS Sports. April 13, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
- ^ "The Nationals have a new bullpen cart, but most of their relievers don't expect to use it". Washington Post. August 17, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ Robinson, Andrew Beaton and Joshua (July 31, 2021). "The Zen of the Olympic Bullpen Cart". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ "Ride in style: The bullpen car is the Olympic Games' best amenity". ESPN.com. July 30, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
External links
- Media related to Bullpen carts at Wikimedia Commons